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LOT^D OJsf, 
PUBLISHED BY ION l EOTOSIEB ROW, 





LALLA ROOKH, 




AN 




<©runtal Romance. 




BY THOMAS MOORE, 




TWENTIETH EDITION, 




ILLUSTRATED WITH 




ENGRAVINGS FROM DRAWINGS BY EMINENT ARTISTS. 




LONDON: 




PRINTED FOR 




LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, 




PATERNOSTER - RO W . 




184.2. 


»K 








aJc- 



London : 

Printed by A. Sfottiswoode, 
New- Street- Square. 



TO 



SAMUEL ROGERS, ESQ. 



THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED, 



HIS VERY GRATEFUL 



AND AFFECTIONATE FRIEND, 



THOMAS MOOEE, 



May 19. 1817. 



LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 



LALLA ROOKH. 
By K. Meadows. {To face Title.) 



DEATH OF HINDA. (Engraved Title Page.) 
By Edward Corbould. 

" One wild heart-broken shriek she gave, 
Then sprung, as if to reach that blaze, 
Where still she fixed her dying gaze, 
And, gazing, sunk into the wave." 

The Fire-wors, 



ZELICA. 



By Edward Corbould. 



" You saw her pale dismay, 

Ye wondering sisterhood, and heard the burst 
Of exclamation from her lips, when first 
She saw that youth, too well, too dearly known, 
Silently kneeling^ at the Prophet's throne." 

The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, p. 26. 



VI LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 



AZIM AND ZELICA. 

By Edward Corbould. 



Scarce had she said 



These breathless words, when a voice deep and dread 
As that of Monker, waking up the dead 
From their first sleep — so startling 'twas to both — 
Rung through the casement near, ' Thy oath ! thy oath ! ' " 

The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, p. 94. 



ZELICA DISCOVERING THE VEILED PROPHET. 
By Edward Corbould. 

" But hark ! — she stops — she listens — dreadful tone ! 
'Tis her tormentor's laugh — and now, a groan." 

The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, p. 130. 

THE PERI AT THE GATE OF EDEN. 
By K. Meadows. 

" One morn a Peri at the gate 
Of Eden stood, disconsolate. " 

Paradise and the Peri, p. 154. 

THE PERI'S FIRST PILGRIMAGE. 

By Edward Corbould. 

" ' Nay, turn not from me that dear face — 

Am I not thine — thy own loved bride — 
The one, the chosen one, whose place 
In life or death is by thy side ? ' " 

Paradise and the Peri, p. 171. 




THE PERI'S SECOND PILGRIMAGE. 
By Edward Corbould. 

" Then swift his haggard brow he turned 
To the fair child, who fearless sat, 
Though never yet hath day-beam burned 
Upon a brow more fierce than that." 

Paradise and the Peri, p. 179. 

THE PARTING OF HINDA AND IRAN. 
By T. P. Stephanoff. 

" ' My dreams have boded all too right — 
We part — for ever part — to-night! 
I knew, I knew it could not last — 
'Twas bright, 'twas heavenly, but 'tis past !'" 

The Fire-ivorshippers, p. 217. 

THE DEPARTURE OF IRAN. 

By Edward Corbould. 

" Fiercely he broke away, nor stopp'd, 
Nor look'd — but from the lattice dropp'd 
Down mid the pointed crags beneath, 
As if he fled from love to death." 

The Fire-iuorshipperSy p. 225. 



HINDA. 

By T. P. Stephanoff. 

And watch, and look along the deep 

For him whose smiles first made her weep." 

The Fire-worshippers, p. 252. 



NAMOUNA. 
By K. Meadows. 



" Her glance 

Spoke something, past all mortal pleasures, 

As, in a kind of holy trance, 

She hung above those fragrant treasures, 

Bending to drink their balmy airs, 

As if she mix'd her soul with theirs. " 

The Light of the Haram, p. 358. 



NOURMAHAL ASLEEP. 
By T. P. Stephanoff. 

No sooner was the flowery crown 
Placed on her head, than sleep came down, 
Gently as nights of summer fall, 
Upon the lids of Nourmahal." 

The Light of the Haram, p. 362. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



In the eleventh year of the reign of Aurungzebe, 
Abdalla, King of the Lesser Bucharia, a lineal descend- 
ant from the Great Zingis, having abdicated the throne 
in favour of his son, set out on a pilgrimage to the 
Shrine of the Prophet ; and, passing into India through 
the delightful valley of Cashmere, rested for a short 
time at Delhi on his way. He was entertained by 
Aurungzebe in a style of magnificent hospitality, 
worthy alike of the visiter and the host, and was 
afterwards escorted with the same splendour to Surat, 
where he embarked for Arabia.* During the stay of 
the Royal Pilgrim at Delhi, a marriage was agreed 
upon between the Prince, his son, and the youngest 



* These particulars of the visit of the King of Bucharia to Au- 
rungzebe are found in Dow's History of Hindostan, vol. iii. p. 392. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



daughter of tlie emperor, Lalla Rookh*; — a Prin- 
cess described by the poets of her time as more beau- 
tiful than Leila f, ShirineJ, Dewilde§, or any of those 
heroines whose names and loves embellish the songs of 
Persia and Hindostan. It was intended that the nup- 
tials should be celebrated at Cashmere ; where the 
young King, as soon as the cares of empire would 
permit, was to meet, for the first time, his lovely bride, 
and, after a few months' repose in that enchanting 
valley, conduct her over the snowy hills into Bucharia. 

The day of Lalla Rookh's departure from Delhi 
was as splendid as sunshine and pageantry could make 
it. The bazaars and baths were all covered with the 
richest tapestry; hundreds of gilded barges upon the 
Jumna floated with their banners shining in the water ; 

* Tulip cheek. 

f The mistress of Mejnoun, upon whose story so many Romances 
in all the languages of the East are founded. 

| For the loves of this celebrated beauty with Khosrou and with 
Ferhad, see D'Herbelot, Gibbon, Oriental Collections, &c. 

§ " The history of the loves of Dewilde and Chizer, the son of 
the Emperor Alia, is written in an elegant poem, by the noble 
Chusero." — Ferishta. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



while through the streets groups of beautiful children 
went strewing the most delicious flowers around, as in 
that Persian festival called the Scattering of the Roses*; 
till every part of the city was as fragrant as if a 
caravan of musk from Khoten had passed through it. 
The Princess, having taken leave of her kind father, 
who at parting hung a cornelian of Yemen round her 
neck, on which was inscribed a verse from the Koran, 
and having sent a considerable present to the Fakirs, 
who kept up the Perpetual Lamp in her sister's tomb, 
meekly ascended the palankeen prepared for her ; and, 
while Aurungzebe stood to take a last look from his 
balcony, the procession moved slowly on the road to 
Lahore. 

Seldom had the Eastern world seen a cavalcade so 
superb. From the gardens in the suburbs to the 
Imperial palace, it was one unbroken line of splendour. 
The gallant appearance of the Rajahs and Mogul 
Lords, distinguished by those insignia of the Emperor's 

* Gul Reazee. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



favour *, the feathers of the egret of Cashmere in their 
turbans, and the small silver-rimmed kettledrums at 
the bows of their saddles ; — the costly armour of their 
cavaliers, who vied, on this occasion, with the guards of 
the great Keder Khan f , in the brightness of their silver 
battle-axes and the massiness of their maces of gold ; — 
the glittering of the gilt pine-apples J on the tops of the 



* " One mark of honour or knighthood bestowed by the Emperor 
is the permission to wear a small kettledrum at the bows of their 
saddles, which at first was invented for the training of hawks, and 
to call them to the lure, and is worn in the field by all sportsmen to 
that end." — Fryer's Travels. 

" Those on whom the King has conferred the privilege must 
wear an ornament of jewels on the right side of the turban, sur- 
mounted by a high plume of the feathers of a kind of egret. This 
bird is found only in Cashmere, and the feathers are carefully col- 
lected for the King, who bestows them on his nobles." — Elphin- 
stones Account of Caubul. 

■\ " Khedar Khan, the Khakan, or King of Turquestan, beyond 
the Gihon (at the end of the eleventh century), whenever he ap- 
peared abroad, was preceded by seven hundred horsemen with 
silver battle-axes, and was followed by an equal number bearing 
maces of gold. He was a great patron of poetry, and it was he who 
used to preside at public exercises of genius, with four basins of 
gold and silver by him to distribute among the poets who excelled." 
— Richardson's Dissertation prefixed to his Dictionary. 

I " The kubdeh, a large golden knob, generally in the shape of 
a pine-apple, on the top of the canopy over the litter or palanquin." 
— Scott's Notes on the Bahardanush. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



palankeens ; — the embroidered trappings of the ele- 
phants, bearing on their backs small turrets, in the 
shaj^e of little antique temples, within which the Ladies 
of Laela Rookh lay as it were enshrined ; — the 
rose-coloured veils of the Princess's own sumptuous 
litter*, at the front of which a fair young female slave 
sat fanning her through the curtains, with feathers of 
the Argus pheasant's wing f ; — and the lovely troop of 
Tartarian and Cashmerian maids of honour, whom the 
young King had sent to accompany his bride, and who 
rode on each side of the litter, upon small Arabian 
horses : — all was brilliant, tasteful, and magnificent, and 
pleased even the critical and fastidious Fadladeen, 



* In the Poem of Zohair, in the Moallakat, there is the follow- 
ing lively description of " a company of maidens seated on 
camels." 

" They are mounted in carriages covered with costly awnings, 
and with rose- coloured veils, the linings of which have the hue of 
crimson Andem-wood. 

" When they ascend from the bosom of the vale, they sit for- 
ward on the saddle-cloth, with every mark of a voluptuous gaiety. 

" Xow, when they have reached the brink of yon blue-gushing 
rivulet, they fix the poles of their tents like the Arab with a settled 
mansion." 

j See Serniers description of the attendants on Rauchanara- 
Begum, in her progress to Cashmere. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



Great Nazir or Chamberlain of the Haram, who was 
borne in his palankeen immediately after the Princess, 
and considered himself not the least important per- 
sonage of the pageant. 

Fadladeen was a judge of every thing, — from the 
pencilling of a Circassian's eyelids to the deepest ques- 
tions of science and literature ; from the mixture of a 
conserve of rose-leaves to the composition, of an epic 
poem : and such influence had his opinion upon the 
various tastes of the day, that all the cooks and poets of 
Delhi stood in awe of him. His political conduct and 
opinions were founded upon that line of Sadi, — 
" Should the Prince at noon-day say, It is night, 
declare that you behold the moon and stars." — And 
his zeal for religion, of which Aurungzebe was a muni- 
ficent protector*, was about as disinterested as that of 

* This hypocritical Emperor would have made a worthy asso- 
ciate of certain Holy Leagues. — " He held the cloak of religion 
(says Dow) between his actions and the vulgar ; and impiously 
thanked the Divinity for a success which he owed to his own 
wickedness. When he was murdering and persecuting his brothers 
and their families, he was building a magnificent mosque at Delhi, 
as an oiFering to God for his assistance to him in the civil wars. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



the goldsmith who fell in love with the diamond eyes 
of the idol of Jaghernaut. * 



During the first days of their journey, Lalla Rookh, 
who had passed all her life within the shadow of the 
Royal Gardens of Delhi j, found enough in the beauty 
of the scenery through which they passed to interest 
her mind, and delight her imagination ; and when at 
evening, or in the heat of the day, they turned off from 
the high road to those retired and romantic places which 
had been selected for her encampments, — sometimes on 
the banks of a small rivulet, as clear as the waters of the 
Lake of Pearl J ; sometimes under the sacred shade of a 



He acted as high priest at the consecration of this temple ; and made 
a practice of attending divine service there, in the humble dress of 
a Fakeer. But when he lifted one hand to the Divinity, he, with 
the other, signed warrants for the assassination of his relations." — 
History of Hindostan, vol. iii. p. 335. See also the curious letter of 
Aurungzebe, given in the Oriental Collections, vol. i. p. 320. 

* " The idol at Jaghernat has two fine diamonds for eyes. !N~o 
goldsmith is suffered to enter the Pagoda, one having stole one of 
these eyes, being locked up all night with the Idol." — Tavernier. 

| See a description of these royal Gardens in " An Account of 
the present State of Delhi, by Lieut. W.Franklin." — Asiat. Re- 
search, vol. iv. p. 417. 

\ " In the neighbourhood is Notte Gill, or the Lake of Pearl, 



LALLA ROOKH. 



Banyan tree, from which the view opened upon a glade 
covered with antelopes ; and often in those hidden, em- 
bowered spots, described by one from the Isles of the 
West*, as "places of melancholy, delight, and safety, 
where all the company around was wild peacocks and 
turtle-doves ; " — she felt a charm in these scenes, so 
lovely and so new to her, which, for a time, made her 
indifferent to every other amusement. But Lalla 
Rookh was young, and the young love variety ; nor 
could the conversation of her Ladies and the Great 
Chamberlain, Fadladeen, (the only persons, of course, 
admitted to her pavilion,) sufficiently enliven those 
many vacant hours, which were devoted neither to the 
pillow nor the palankeen. There was a little Persian 
slave who sung sweetly to the Yina, and who, now and 
then, lulled the Princess to sleep with the ancient 
ditties of her country, about the loves of Wamak and 

which receives this name from its pellucid water." — Pennant's 
Hindostan. 

" Nasir Jung encamped in the vicinity of the Lake of Tonoor, 
amused himself with sailing on that clear and beautiful water, and 
gave it the fanciful name of Motee Talah, ' the Lake of Pearls,' 
which it still retains." — Wilks's South of India. 

* Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador from James I. to Jehan-Guire. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



Ezra*, the fair-haired Zal and his mistress Rodahverf ; 
not forgetting the combat of Rustam with the terrible 
White Demon J. At other times she was amused by 
those graceful dancing-girls of Delhi, who had been 
permitted by the Bramins of the Great Pagoda to 
attend her, much to the horror of the good Mussulman 
Fadladeen, who could see nothing graceful or agree- 
able in idolaters, and to whom the very tinkling of their 
golden anklets § was an abomination. 



* " The romance Weniakweazra, written in Persian verse, which 
contains the loves of Wamak and Ezra, two celebrated lovers who 
lived before the time of Mahomet." — Note on the Oriental Tales. 

f Their amour is recounted in the Shah-JvTameh of Ferdousi ; 
and there is much beauty in the passage which describes the slaves 
of Rodahver sitting on the bank of the river and throwing flowers 
into the stream, in order to draw the attention of the young Hero 
who is encamped on the opposite side. — See Champion's transla- 
tion. 

% Rustain is the Hercules of the Persians. For the particulars 
of his victory over the Sepeed Deeve, or White Demon, see Oriental 
Collections, vol. ii. p. 45. — Near the city of Shirauz is an immense 
quadrangular monument, in commemoration of this combat, called 
the Kelaat-i-Deev Sepeed, or castle of the White Giant, which 
Father Angelo, in his Gazophilacium Persicum, p. 127., declares to 
have been the most memorable monument of antiquity which he 
had seen in Persia. — See Ouseleys Persian Miscellanies. 

§ " The women of the Idol, or dancing girls of the Pagoda, have 
little golden bells, fastened to their feet, the soft harmonious tink- 



10 LALLA ROOKH. 



But these and many other diversions were repeated 
till they lost all their charm, and the nights and noon- 
days were beginning to move heavily, when, at length, 
it was recollected that, among the attendants sent by 
the bridegroom, was a young poet of Cashmere, much 
celebrated throughout the Valley for his manner of re- 
citing the Stories of the East, on whom his Royal 
Master had conferred the privilege of being admitted to 
the pavilion of the Princess, that he might help to be- 
guile the tediousness of the journey by some of his most 
agreeable recitals. At the mention of a poet, Fadla- 
deen elevated his critical eyebrows, and, having re- 
freshed his faculties with a dose of that delicious opium * 



ling of which vibrates in unison with the exquisite melody of their 
voices." — Maurice 1 ?, Indian Antiquities. 

" The Arabian courtesans, like the Indian women, have little 
golden bells fastened round their legs, neck, and elbows, to the 
sound of which they dance before the King. The Arabian prin- 
cesses wear golden rings on their fingers, to which little bells are 
suspended, as well as in the flowing tresses of their hair, that their 
superior rank may be known, and they themselves receive in pas- 
sing the homage due to them." — See Calmefs Dictionary, art. 
Bells. 

* " Abou-Tige, ville de la Thebai'de, oii il croit beaucoup de 
pavot noir, dont se fait le meilleur opium." — D Herlelot. 



LALLA ROOKH. 11 



which is distilled from the black poppy of the Thebais, 
gave orders for the minstrel to be forthwith introduced 
into the presence. 

The Princess, who had once in her life seen a poet 
from behind the screens of gauze in her Father's hall, 
and had conceived from that specimen no very favour- 
able ideas of the Caste, expected but little in this new 
exhibition to interest her ; — she felt inclined, however, 
to alter her opinion on the very first appearance of 
Feramorz. He was a youth about Lalla Rookh's 
own age, and graceful as that idol of women, Crishna *, 
— such as he appears to their young imaginations, 
heroic, beautiful, breathing music from his very eyes, 
and exalting the religion of his worshippers into love. 
His dress was simple, yet not without some marks of 
costliness; and the Ladies of the Princess were not 
long in discovering that the cloth, which encircled his 

* The Indian Apollo. — " He and the three llamas are described 
as youths of perfect beauty ; and the princesses of Hindustan were 
all passionately in love with Chrishna, who continues to this hour 
the darling God of the Indian women." — Sir W. Jones, on the 
Gods of Greece, Italy, and India. 



12 LALLA ROOKH. 



high Tartarian cap, was of the most delicate kind that 
the shawl-goats of Tibet supply.* Here and there, too, 
over his vest, which was confined by a flowered girdle 
of Kashan, hung strings of fine pearl, disposed with an 
air of studied negligence : — nor did the exquisite em- 
broidery of his sandals escape the observation of these 
fair critics ; who, however they might give way to 
Fadladeen upon the unimportant topics of religion 
and government, had the spirit of martyrs in every 
thing relating to such momentous matters as jewels and 
embroidery. 

For the purpose of relieving the pauses of recitation 
by music, the young Cashmerian held in his hand a 
kitar ; — such as, in old times, the Arab maids of the 
West used to listen to by moonlight in the gardens of 
the Alhambra — and, having premised, with much hu- 
mility, that the story he was about to relate was founded 
on the adventures of that Veiled Prophet of Khorassan f , 

* See Turner's Embassy for a description of this animal, " the 
most beautiful among the whole tribe of goats." The material for 
the shawls (which is carried to Cashmere) is found next the skin. 

f For the real history of this Impostor, whose original name was 



LALLA ROOKH. 13 



who, in the year of the Hegira 163, created such alarm 
throughout the Eastern Empire, made an obeisance to 
the Princess, and thus began : — 



Hakem ben Haschem, and who was called Mocanna from the veil 
of silver gauze (or, as others say, golden) which he always wore, 
see D'Herbelot. 



THE 



VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN.* 



In that delightful Province of the Sun, 
The first of Persian lands he shines upon, 
Where all the loveliest children of his beam, 
Flow'rets and fruits, blush over ev'ry stream, f 
And, fairest of all streams, the Murga roves 
Among Merou'sJ bright palaces and groves; — 



* Khorassan signifies, in the old Persian language, Province or 
Region of the Sun. — Sir W. Jones. 

f " The fruits of Meru are finer than those of any other place ; 
and one cannot see in any other city such palaces with groves, and 
streams, and gardens." — JEbn HankaFs Geography. 

| One of the royal cities of Khorassan. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 15 

There on that throne, to which the blind belief 

Of millions rais'd him, sat the Prophet- Chief, 

The Great Mokaxna. O'er his features hung 

The Veil, the Silver Veil, which he had flung 

In mercy there, to hide from mortal sight 

His dazzling brow, till man could bear its light. 

For, far less luminous, his votaries said, 

Were ev'n the gleams, miraculously shed 

O'er Moussa's* cheek f, when down the Mount he trod, 

All glowing from the presence of his Grod ! 

On either side, with ready hearts and hands, 
His chosen guard of bold Believers stands ; 
Young fire-eyed disputants, who deem their swords, 
On points of faith, more eloquent than words ; 
And such their zeal, there's not a youth with brand 
Uplifted there, but, at the Chief's command, 
Would make his own devoted heart its sheath, 
And bless the lips that doom'd so dear a death ! 

* Moses. 

f " Ses disciples assuroient qu'il se couvroit le visage, pour ne 
pas eblouir ceux qui l'approchoient par l'eclat de son visage comme 
Moyse." — UHerbelot. 



16 LALLA ROOKH. 



In hatred to the Caliph's hue of night,* 

Their vesture, helms and all, is snowy white ; 

Their weapons various — some equipp'd, for speed, 

With javelins of the light Kathaian reed ; f 

Or bows of buffalo horn and shining quivers 

Fill'd with the stems J that bloom on Iran's rivers ;§ 

While some, for war's more terrible attacks, 

Wield the huge mace and ponderous battle-axe ; 

And as they wave aloft in morning's beam 

The milk-white plumage of their helms, they seem 



* Black was the colour adopted by the Caliphs of the House of 
Abbas, in their garments, turbans, and standards. — " II faut re- 
marquer ici touchant les habits blancs des disciples de Hakem, que 
la couleur des habits, des coeffures et des etendarts des Khalifes 
Abassides etant la noire, ce chef de Rebelles ne pouvoit pas choisir 
une qui lui fut plus opposee." — D'Herbelot. 

j- " Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Khathaian reeds, 
slender and delicate." — Poem of Amru. 

\ Pichula, used anciently for arrows by the Persians. 

§ The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated shaft of 
Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was made of it. — " Nothing 
can be more beautiful than the appearance of this plant in flower 
during the rains on the banks of rivers, where it is usually inter- 
woven with a lovely twining asclepias." — Sir W. Jones, Botanical 
Observations on Select Indian Plants. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 17 

Like a chenar-tree grove *, when winter throws 
O'er all its tufted heads his feathering snows. 

Between the porphyry pillars, that uphold 
The rich moresque-work of the roof of gold, 
Aloft the Haram's curtain'd galleries rise, 
Where, through the silken network, glancing eyes, 
From time to time, like sudden gleams that glow 
Through autumn clouds, shine o'er the pomp below. — 
What impious tongue, ye blushing saints, would dare 
To hint that aught but Heaven hath plac'd you there ? 
Or that the loves of this light world could bind. 
In their gross chain, your Prophet's soaring mind ? 
No — wrongful thought! — commission'd from above 
To people Eden's bowers with shapes of love, 
(Creatures so bright, that the same lips and eyes 
They wear on earth will serve in Paradise,) 
There to recline among Heaven's native maids, 
And crown the' Elecc with bliss that never fades — 

* The oriental plane. " The chenar is a delightful tree ; its 
bole is of a fine white and smooth bark; and its foliage, which 
grows in a tuft at the summit, is of a bright green." — Morier's 
Travels. 



18 LALLA ROOKH. 



Well hath the Prophet-Chief his bidding done ; 

And ev'ry beauteous race beneath the sun, 

From those who kneel at Brahma's burning founts, * 

To the fresh nymphs bounding o'er Yemen's mounts ; 

From Persia's eyes of full and fawn-like ray, 

To the small, half-shut glances of Kathay ; f 

And Georgia's bloom, and Azab's darker smiles, 

And the gold ringlets of the Western Isles ; 

All, all are there ; — each Land its flower hath given, 

To form that fair young Nursery for Heaven ! 

But why this pageant now ? this arm'd array ? 
What triumph crowds the rich Divan to-day 
With turban'd heads, of every hue and race, 
Bowing before that veil'd and awful face, 
Like tulip-beds J, of different shape and dyes, 
Bending beneath the' invisible West-wind's sighs ! 



* The burning fountains of Brahma near Chittogong, esteemed 
as holy. — Turner. 

| China. 

% " The name of tulip is said to be of Turkish extraction, and 
given to the flower on account of its resembling a turban." — Beck- 
mann's History of Inventions. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 19 

What new-made myst'ry now, for Faith to sign, 
And blood to seal, as genuine and divine, 
What dazzling inimickry of God's own power 
Hath the bold Prophet plann'd to grace this hour ? 

Not such the pageant now, though not less proud ; 
Yon warrior youth, advancing from the crowd, 
With silver bow, with belt of broider'd crape, 
And fur-bound bonnet of Bucharian shape, * 
So fiercely beautiful in form and eye, 
Like war's wild planet in a summer sky ; 
That youth to-day, — a proselyte, worth hordes 
Of cooler spirits and less practis'd swords, — 
Is come to join, all bravery and belief, 
The creed and standard of the heav'n-sent Chief. 

Though few his years, the West already knows 
Young Azim's fame ; — beyond the' Olympian snows, 

* " The inhabitants of Bucharia wear a round cloth bonnet, 
shaped much after the Polish fashion, having a large fur border. 
They tie their kaftans about the middle with a girdle of a kind of 
silk crape, several times round the body." — Account of Independent 
Tartar?/, in Pinkertoris Collection. 



20 LALLA ROOKH. 



Ere manhood darken'd o'er his downy cheek, 
O'erwhelm'd in fight and captive to the Greek, * 
He linger'd there, till peace dissolv'd his chains ; — 
Oh, who could, ev'n in bondage, tread the plains 
Of glorious Greece, nor feel his spirit rise 
Kindling within him ? who, with heart and eyes, 
Could walk where Liberty had been, nor see 
The shining foot-prints of her Deity, 
Nor feel those godlike breathings in the air, 
Which mutely told her spirit had been there ? 
Not he, that youthful warrior, — no, too well 
For his soul's quiet work'd the' awak'ning spell ; 
And now, returning to his own dear land, 
Full of those dreams of good that, vainly grand, 
Haunt the young heart, — proud views of human-kind, 
Of men to Gods exalted and refin'd, — 
False views, like that horizon's fair deceit, 
Where earth and heav'n but seem, alas, to meet ! — 
Soon as he heard an Arm Divine was rais'd 
To right the nations, and beheld, emblaz'd 

* In the war of the Caliph Mahadi against the Empress Irene, 
for an account of which vide Gibbon, vol. x. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 21 

On the white flag Mokanna's host unfurl'd, 
Those words of sunshine, " Freedom to the World/' 
At once his faith, his sword, his soul obey'd 
The' inspiring summons ; every chosen blade 
That fought beneath that banner's sacred text 
Seem'd doubly edg'd, for this world and the next ; 
And ne'er did Faith with her smooth bandage bind 
Eyes more devoutly willing to be blind, 
In virtue's cause ; — never was soul inspir'd 
With livelier trust in what it most desir'd, 
Than his, the' enthusiast there, who kneeling, pale 
With pious awe, before that Silver Veil, 
Believes the form, to which he bends his knee, 
Some pure, redeeming angel, sent to free 
This fetter'd world from every bond and stain, 
And bring its primal glories back again ! 

Low as young Azim knelt, that motley crowd 
Of all earth's nations sunk the knee and bow'd, 
With shouts of " Alla ! " echoing long and loud ; 
While high in air, above the Prophet's head, 
Hundreds of banners, to the sunbeam spread, 



22 LALLA ROOKH. 



Wav'd, like the wings of the white birds that fan 
The flying throne of star-taught Soliman.* 
Then thus he spoke : — " Stranger, though new the frame 
" Thy soul inhabits now, I've track'd its flame 
" For many an agef, in every chance and change 
" Of that existence, through whose varied range, — 
" As through a torch-race, where, from hand to hand 
" The flying youths transmit their shining brand, — 
" From frame to frame the unextinguish'd soul 
" Rapidly passes, till it reach the goal ! 



* This wonderful Throne was called The Star of the Genii. For 
a full description of it, see the Fragment, translated by Captain 
Franklin, from a Persian MS. entitled " The History of Jerusa- 
lem," Oriental Collections, vol. i. p. 235. — When Soliman travelled, 
the eastern writers say, " He had a carpet of green silk on which 
his throne was placed, being of a prodigious length and breadth, and 
sufficient for all his forces to stand upon, the men placing them- 
selves on his right hand, and the spirits on his left ; and that when 
all were in order, the wind, at his command, took up the carpet, 
and transported it, with all that were upon it, wherever he pleased ; 
the army of birds at the same time flying over their heads, and 
forming a kind of canopy to shade them from the sun." — Sale's 
Koran, vol. ii. p. 214. note. 

■j" The transmigration of souls was one of his doctrines. — Vide 
D'Herbelot 



" Nor think 'tis only the gross Spirits, warm'd 
" With duskier fire and for earth's medium form'd, 
" That run this course ; — Beings, the most divine, 
" Thus deign through dark mortality to shine. 
" Such was the Essence that in Adam dwelt, 
" To which all Heav'n, except the Proud One, knelt : * 
" Such the refin'd Intelligence that glow'd 
" In Moussa's t frame, — and, thence descending, now'd 
" Through many a Prophet's breast J; ■ — in Issa§ shone, 
" And in Mohammed burn'd ; till, hastening on, 
" (As a bright river that, from fall to fall 
" In many a maze descending, bright through all, 



* " And when we said unto the angels, Worship Adam, they all 
worshipped him except Eblis (Lucifer), who refused." — The 
Koran, chap. ii. 

f Moses. 

j This is according to D'Herbelot's account of the doctrines of 
Mokanna : — " Sa doctrine etoit, que Dieu avoit pris une forme et 
figure humaine, depuis qu'il eut commande aux Anges d' adorer 
Adam, le premier des hommes. Qu'apres la mort d'Adam, Dieu 
etoit apparu sous la figure de plusieurs Prophetes, et autres grands 
hommes qu'il avoit choisis, jusqu'a, ce qu'il prit celle d'Abu Moslem, 
Prince de Khorassan, lequel professoit l'erreur de la Tenassukhiah 
ou Metempschychose ; et qu'apres la mort de ce Prince, la Divinite 
etoit passee, et descendue en sa personne." 

§ Jesus. 



24 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Finds some fair region where, each labyrinth past, 
" In one full lake of light it rests at last !) 
" That Holy Spirit, settling calm and free 
" From lapse or shadow, centers all in me ! " 

Again, throughout the' assembly, at these words, 
Thousands of voices rung : the warriors' swords 
Were pointed up to heaven ; a sudden wind 
In the' open banners play'cl, and from behind 
Those Persian hangings, that but ill could screen 
The Haram's loveliness, white hands were seen 
Waving embroider'd scarves, whose motion gave 
A perfume forth; — like those the Houris wave 
When beck'ning to their bowers the' immortal Brave. 

" But these," pursued the Chief, " are truths sublime, 
" That claim a holier mood and calmer time 
" Than earth allows us now ; — this sword must first 
" The darkling prison-house of Mankind burst, 
" Ere Peace can visit them, or Truth let in 
" Her wakening daylight on a world of sin. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 25 

(( But then, celestial warriors, then, when all 

" Earth's shrines and thrones before our banner fall ; 

" When the glad Slave shall at these feet lay down 

" His broken chain, the tyrant Lord his crown, 

" The Priest his book, the Conqueror his wreath, 

" And from the lips of Truth one mighty breath 

" Shall, like a whirlwind, scatter in its breeze 

" That whole dark pile of human mockeries ; — 

" Then shall the reign of mind commence on earth, 

" And starting fresh, as from a second birth, 

" Man, in the sunshine of the world's new spring, 

" Shall walk transparent, like some holy thing ! 

" Then, too, your Prophet from his angel brow 

" Shall cast the Veil that hides its splendours now, 

" And gladden'd Earth shall, through her wide expanse, 

" Bask in the glories of this countenance ! 

" For thee, young warrior, welcome ! — thou hast yet 
" Some tasks to learn, some frailties to forget, 
" Ere the white war-plume o'er thy brow can wave ; — 
" But, once my own, mine all till in the grave ! " 



26 LALLA ROOKH. 



The pomp is at an end — the crowds are gone — 
Each ear and heart still haunted by the tone 
Of that deep voice, which thrill'd like Alla's own ! 
The Young all dazzled by the plumes and lances, 
The glittering throne, and Haram's half-caught glances ; 
The Old deep pondering on the promis'd reign 
Of peace and truth ; and all the female train 
Ready to risk their eyes, could they but gaze 
A moment on that brow's miraculous blaze ! 

But there was one, among the chosen maids, 
Who blush'd behind the gallery's silken shades, 
One, to whose soul the pageant of to-day 
Has been like death: — you saw her pale dismay, 
Ye wondering sisterhood, and heard the burst 
Of exclamation from her lips, when first 
She saw that youth, too well, too dearly known, 
Silently kneeling at the Prophet's throne. 

Ah Zelica ! there was a time, when bliss 
Shone o'er thy heart from ev'ry look of his ; 




- 






— yon. saw- "hex -pale dismay 
Ye wondering sisterhood, and "heard One "burst 
Of ex/Tarnation from her tips, when first 

s.aw that youth, too -well., too dearly It now 
Silently "kneeling at the 'Etqphefs throne. 



d TropTiet, p. 19. 



• . 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 27 

When but to see him, hear him, breathe the air 
In which he dwelt, was thy soul's fondest prayer ; 
When round him hung such a perpetual spell, 
What e'er he did, none ever did so well. 
Too happy days ! when, if he touch'd a flower 
Or gem of thine, 'twas sacred from that hour ; 
When thou didst study him till every tone 
And gesture and dear look became thy own, — 
Thy voice like his, the changes of his face 
In thine reflected with still lovelier grace. 
Like echo, sending back sweet music, fraught 
With twice the' aerial sweetness it had brought ! 
Yet now he comes, — brighter than even he 
E'er beam'd before, — but, ah ! not bright for thee; 
No — dread, unlook'd for, like a visitant 
From the' other world, he comes as if to haunt 
Thy guilty soul with dreams of lost delight, 
Long lost to all but memory's aching sight : — 
Sad dreams ! as when the Spirit of our Youth 
Returns in sleep, sparkling with all the truth 
And innocence once ours, and leads us back, 
In mournful mockery, o'er the shining track 



28 LALLA ROOKH. 



Of our young life, and points out every ray 
Of hope and peace we've lost upon the way ! 

Once happy pair ! — In proud Bokhara's groves, 
Who had not heard of their first youthful loves ? 
Born by that ancient flood*, which from its spring 
In the dark Mountains swiftly wandering, 
Enrich'd by every pilgrim brook that shines 
With relics from Bucharia's ruby mines, 
And, lending to the Caspian half its strength, 
In the cold Lake of Eagles sinks at length ; — 
There, on the banks of that bright river born, 
The flowers, that hung above its wave at morn, 
Bless'd not the waters, as they murmur'd by, 
With holier scent and lustre, than the sigh 
And virgin-glance of first affection cast 
Upon their youth's smooth current, as it pass'd ! 
But war disturb'd this vision, — far away 
From her fond eyes summon'd to join the' array 

* The Amoo, which rises in the Belur Tag, or Dark Mountains, 
and running nearly from east to west, splits into two branches ; one 
of which falls into the Caspian sea, and the other into Aral Nahr, 
or the Lake of Eagles. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 29 

Of Persia's warriors on the hills of Thrace, 
The youth exchanged his sylvan dwelling-place 
For the rude tent and war-field's deathful clash ; 
His Zelica's sweet glances for the flash 
Of Grecian wild-fire, and Love's gentle chains 
For bleeding bondage on Byzantium's plains. 

Month after month, in widowhood of soul 
Drooping, the maiden saw two summers roll 
Their suns away — but, ah ! how cold and dim 
Ev'n summer suns, when not beheld with him ! 
From time to time ill-omen'd rumours came, 
Like spirit-tongues, mutt'ring the sick man's name, 
Just ere he dies : — at length those sounds of dread 
Fell with'ring on her soul, " Azim is dead ! " 
Oh Grief, beyond all other griefs, when fate 
First leaves the young heart lone and desolate 
In the wide world, without that only tie 
For which it lov'd to live or fear'd to die ; — 
Lorn as the hung-up lute, that ne'er hath spoken 
Since the sad day its master-chord was broken ! 



30 LALLA ROOKH. 



Fond maid, the sorrow of her soul was such, 
Ev'n reason sunk, — blighted beneath its touch; 
And though, ere long, her sanguine spirit rose 
Above the first dead pressure of its woes, 
Though health and bloom return'd, the delicate chain 
Of thought, once tangled, never clear'd again. 
Warm, lively, soft as in youth's happiest day, 
The mind was still all there, but turn'cl astray ; — 
A wand'ring bark, upon whose pathway shone 
All stars of heaven, except the guiding one ! 
Again she smil'd, nay, much and brightly smil'd, 
But 'twas a lustre, strange, unreal, wild ; 
And when she sung to her lute's touching strain, 
'Twas like the notes, half ecstasy, half pain, 
The bulbul* utters, ere her soul depart, 
When, vanquish'd by some minstrel's powerful art, 
She dies upon the lute whose sweetness broke her heart ! 

Such was the mood in which that mission found 
Young Zelica, — that mission, which around 



The nightingale. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 31 

The Eastern world, in every region blest 

With woman's smile, sought out its loveliest, 

To grace that galaxy of lips and eyes 

Which the Yeil'd Prophet destin'd for the skies : — 

And such quick welcome as a spark receives 

Dropp'd on a bed of Autumn's wither'd leaves, 

Did every tale of these enthusiasts find 

In the wild maiden's sorrow-blighted mind. 

All fire at once the madd'ning zeal she caught ; — 

Elect of Paradise ! blest, rapturous thought ! 

Predestin'd bride, in heaven's eternal dome, 

Of some brave youth — ha ! durst they say " of some ?" 

No — of the one, one only object trac'd 

In her heart's core too deep to be effac'd ; 

The one whose memory, fresh as life, is twin'd 

With every broken link of her lost mind ; 

Whose image lives, though Reason's self be wreck'd, 

Safe 'mid the ruins of her intellect ! 

Alas, poor Zelica ! it needed all 
The fantasy, which held thy mind in thrall, 



32 LALLA ROOKH. 



To see in that gay Haram's glowing maids 

A sainted colony for Eden's shades ; 

Or dream that he, — of whose unholy flame 

Thou wert too soon the victim, — shining came 

From Paradise, to people its pure sphere 

With souls like thine, which he hath ruin'd here ! 

No — had not reason's light totally set, 

And left thee dark, thou hadst an amulet 

In the lov'd image, graven on thy heart, 

Which would have sav'd thee from the tempter's art, 

And kept alive, in all its bloom of breath, 

That purity, whose fading is love's death! — 

But lost, inflam'd, — a restless zeal took place 

Of the mild virgin's still and feminine grace ; 

First of the Prophet's favourites, proudly first 

In zeal and charms, — too well the' Impostor nurs'd 

Her soul's delirium, in whose active flame, 

Thus lighting up a young, luxuriant frame, 

He saw more potent sorceries to bind 

To his dark yoke the spirits of mankind, 

More subtle chains than hell itself e'er twin'd. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 33 

No art was spar'd, no witchery; — all the skill 

His demons taught him was employ'd to fill 

Her mind with gloom and ecstasy by turns — 

That gloom, through which Frenzy but fiercer burns ; 

That ecstasy, which from the depth of sadness 

Glares like the maniac's moon, whose light is madness ! 

'Twas from a brilliant banquet, where the sound 
Of poesy and music breath'd around, 
Together picturing to her mind and ear 
The glories of that heav'n, her destin'd sphere, 
Where all was pure, where every stain that lay 
Upon the spirit's light should pass away, 
And, realizing more than youthful love 
E'er wish'd or dream'd, she should for ever rove 
Through fields of fragrance by her Azim's side, 
His own bless'd, purified, eternal bride! — 
'Twas from a scene, a witching trance like this, 
He hurried her away, yet breathing bliss, 
To the dim charnel-house; — through all its steams 
Of damp and death, led only by those gleams 



34 



LALLA ROOKH. 



Which foul Corruption lights, as with design 

To show the gay and proud she too can shine ! — 

And, passing on through upright ranks of Dead, 

Which to the maiden, doubly craz'd by dread, 

Seem'd, through the bluish death-light round them cast, 

To move their lips in mutterings as she pass'd — 

There, in that awful place, when each had quaff'd 

And pledg'd in silence such a fearful draught, 

Such — oh ! the look and taste of that red bowl 

Will haunt her till she dies — he bound her soul 

By a dark oath, in hell's own language fram'd, 

Never, while earth his mystic presence claim'd, 

While the blue arch of day hung o'er them both, 

Never, by that all-imprecating oath, 

In joy or sorrow from his side to sever. — 

She swore, and the wide charnel echoed, " Never, never ! " 



From that dread hour, entirely, wildly given 
To him and — she belie v'd, lost maid! — to Heaven; 
Her brain, her heart, her passions all inflam'd, 
How proud she stood, when in full Haram nam'd 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 35 

The Priestess of the Faith ! — how flash'd her eyes 

With light, alas ! that was not of the skies, 

When round, in trances, only less than hers, 

She saw the Haram kneel, her prostrate worshippers ! 

Well might Mokanna think that form alone 

Had spells enough to make the world his own : — 

Light, lovely limbs, to which the spirit's play 

Gave motion, airy as the dancing spray, 

When from its stem the small bird wings away : 

Lips in whose rosy labyrinth, when she smil'd, 

The soul was lost ; and blushes, swift and wild 

As are the momentary meteors sent 

Across the' uncalm, but beauteous firmament. 

And then her look — oh! where's the heart so wise 

Could unbewilder'd meet those matchless eyes ? 

Quick, restless, strange, but exquisite withal, 

Like those of angels, just before their fall ; 

Now shadow'd with the shames of earth — now crost 

By glimpses of the Heav'n her heart had lost ; 

In ev'ry glance there broke, without controul, 

The flashes of a bright, but troubled soul, 



36 LALLA ROOKH. 



Where sensibility still wildly play'd, 

Like lightning, round the ruins it had made ! 

And such was now young Zelica — so chang'd 
From her who, some years since, delighted rang'd 
The almond groves that shade Bokhara's tide, 
All life and bliss, with Azim by her side ! 
So alter'd was she now, this festal day, 
When, 'mid the proud Divan's dazzling array, 
The vision of that Youth whom she had lov'd, 
Had wept as dead, before her breath'cl and mov'd ; — 
When — bright, she thought, as if from Eden's track 
But half-way trodden, he had wander'd back 
Again to Carth, glistening with Eden's light — 
Her beauteous Azim shone before her sight. 

O Reason ! who shall say what spells renew, 
When least we look for it, thy broken clew ! 
Through what small vistas o'er the darken'd brain 
Thy intellectual clay-beam bursts again ; 
And how, like forts, to which beleaguerers win 
Unhop'd-for entrance through some friend within, 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 37 

One clear idea, waken'd in the breast 

By memory's magic, lets in all the rest ! 

Would it were thus, unhappy girl, with thee ! 

But though light came, it came but partially ; 

Enough to show the maze, in which thy sense 

Wander 'd about, — but not to guide it thence ; 

Enough to glimmer o'er the yawning wave, 

But not to point the harbour which might save. 

Hours of delight and peace, long left behind, 

With that dear form came rushing o'er her mind ; 

But, oh ! to think how deep her soul had gone 

In shame and falsehood since those moments shone ; 

And, then, her oath — there madness lay again, 

And, shuddering, back she sunk into her chain 

Of mental darkness, as if blest to flee 

From light, whose every glimpse was agony ! 

Yet, one relief this glance of former years 

Brought, mingled with its pain, — tears, floods of tears, 

Long frozen at her heart, but now like rills 

Let loose in spring-time from the snowy hills, 

And gushing warm, after a sleep of frost, 

Through valleys where their flow had long been lost. 



38 LALLA ROOKH. 



Sad and subdued, for the first time her frame 
Trembled with horror, when the summons came 
(A summons proud and rare, which all but she, 
And she, till now, had heard with ecstasy,) 
To meet Mokanna at his place of prayer, 
A garden oratory, cool and fair, 
By the stream's side, where still at close of day 
The Prophet of the Veil retir'd to pray ; 
Sometimes alone — but, oftener far, with one, 
One chosen nymph to share his orison. 

Of late none found such favour in his sight 
As the young Priestess ; and though, since that night 
When the death-caverns echoed every tone 
Of the dire oath that made her all his own, 
The' Impostor, sure of his infatuate prize, 
Had, more than once, thrown off his soul's disguise, 
And utter'd such unheav'nly, monstrous things, 
As ev'n across the desp'rate wanderings 
Of a weak intellect, whose lamp was out, 
Threw startling shadows of dismay and doubt ; — 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 39 

Yet zeal, ambition, her tremendous vow, 

The thought, still haunting her, of that bright brow, 

Whose blaze, as yet from mortal eye conceal'd, 

Would soon, proud triumph ! be to her reveal'd, 

To her alone; — and then the hope, most dear, 

Most wild of all, that her transgression here 

Was but a passage through earth's grosser fire, 

From which the spirit would at last aspire, 

Ev'n purer than before, — as perfumes rise 

Through flame and smoke, most welcome to the skies — 

And that when Azim's fond, divine embrace 

Should circle her in heav'n, no dark'ning trace 

Would on that bosom he once lov'd remain, 

But all be bright, be pure, be his again ! — 

These were the wildering dreams, whose curst deceit 

Had chain'd her soul beneath the tempter's feet, 

And made her think ev'n damning falsehood sweet. 

But now that Shape, which had appall'd her view, 

That Semblance — oh, how terrible, if true! — 

Which came across her frenzy's full career 

With shock of consciousness, cold, deep, severe, 



40 LALLA ROOKH. 



As when, in northern seas, at midnight dark, 
An isle of ice encounters some swift bark, 
And, startling all its wretches from their sleep, 
By one cold impulse hurls them to the deep ; — 
So came that shock not frenzy's self could bear, 
And waking up each long-lull'd image there, 
But check'd her headlong soul, to sink it in despair ! 

Wan and dejected, through the evening dusk, 
She now went slowly to that small kiosk, 
Where, pond'ring alone his impious schemes, 
Mokanna waited her — too wrapt in dreams 
Of the fair-rip'ning future's rich success, 
To heed the sorrow, pale and spiritless, 
That sat upon his victim's downcast brow, 
Or mark how slow her step, how alter'd now 
From the quick, ardent Priestess, whose light bound 
Came like a spirit's o'er the' unechoing ground, — 
From that wild Zelica, whose every glance 
Was thrilling fire, whose every thought a trance ! 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 41 

Upon his couch the Veil'd Mokanna lay, 
While lamps around — not such as lend their ray, 
Glimmering and cold, to those who nightly pray 
In holy Koom*, or Mecca's dim arcades, — 
But brilliant, soft, such lights as lovely maids 
Look loveliest in, shed their luxurious glow 
Upon his mystic Veil's white glittering flow. 
Beside him, 'stead of beads and books of prayer, 
Which the world fondly thought he mus'd on there, 
Stood vases, fill'd with Kishmee's| golden wine, 
And the red weepings of the Shiraz vine ; 
Of which his curtain'd lips full many a draught 
Took zealously, as if each drop they quaff'd, 
Like Zemzem's Spring of Holiness J, had power 
To freshen the soul's virtues into flower ! 
And still he drank and ponder'd — nor could see 
The' approaching maid, so deep his reverie ; 



* The cities of Com (or Koom) and Cashan are full of mosques, 
mausoleums, and sepulchres of the descendants of Ali, the Saints of 
Persia. — Chardin. 

f An island in the Persian Gulf, celebrated for its white wine. 

X The miraculous well at Mecca ; so called, says Sale, from the 
murmuring of its waters. 



42 LALLA ROOKH. 



At length, with fiendish laugh, like that which broke 

From Eblis at the Fall of Man, he spoke : — 

" Yes, ye vile race, for hell's amusement given, 

" Too mean for earth, yet claiming kin with heaven ; 

" God's images, forsooth! — such gods as he 

" Whom India serves, the monkey deity ; — * 

" Ye creatures of a breath, proud things of clay, 

" To whom if Lucifer, as grandams say, 

" Refus'd, though at the forfeit of heaven's light, 

" To bend in worship, Lucifer was right ! — f 



* The God Hannaman. — " Apes are in many parts of India 
highly venerated, out of respect to the God Hannaman, a deity par- 
taking of the form of that race." — Pennant's Hindoostan. 

See a curious account, in Stephen's Persia, of a solemn embassy 
from some part of the Indies to Goa, when the Portuguese were 
there, offering vast treasures for the recovery of a monkey's tooth, 
which they held in great veneration, and which had been taken 
away upon the conquest of the kingdom of Jafanapatan. 

f This resolution of Eblis not to acknowledge the new creature, 
man, was, according to Mahometan tradition, thus adopted : — 
" The earth (which God had selected for the materials of his work) 
was carried into Arabia to a place between Mecca and Tayef, 
where, being first kneaded by the angels, it was afterwards 
fashioned by God himself into a human form, and left to dry for 
the space of forty days, or, as others say, as many years ; the 
angels, in the mean time, often visiting it, and Eblis (then one of 
the angels nearest to God's presence, afterwards the devil) among 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 43 

" Soon shall I plant this foot upon the neck 

" Of your foul race, and without fear or check, 

" Luxuriating in hate, avenge my shame, 

" My deep-felt, long-nurst loathing of man's name ! — 

" Soon at the head of myriads, blind and fierce 

" As hooded falcons, through the universe 

" I'll sweep my darkening, desolating way, 

" Weak man my instrument, curst man my prey ! 

" Ye wise, ye learn'd, who grope your dull way on 
" By the dim twinkling gleams of ages gone, 
" Like superstitious thieves, who think the light 
" From dead men's marrow guides them best at night — * 
" Ye shall have honours — wealth, — yes, Sages, yes — 
" I know, grave fools, your wisdom's nothingness ; 



the rest ; but he, not contented with looking at it, kicked it with 
his foot till it rung ; and knowing God designed that creature to 
be his superior, took a secret resolution never to acknowledge him 
as such." — Sale on the Koran. 

* A kind of lantern formerly used by robbers, called the Hand 
of Glory, the candle for which was made of the fat of a dead male- 
factor. This, however, was rather a western than an eastern su- 
perstition. 



44 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Undazzled it can track yon starry sphere, 

" But a gilt stick, a bauble blinds it here. 

" How I shall laugh, when trumpeted along, 

" In lying speech, and still more lying song, 

" By these learn'd slaves, the meanest of the throng ; 

" Their wits bought up, their wisdom shrunk so 

small, 
" A sceptre's puny point can wield it all ! 

" Ye too, believers of incredible creeds, 
" Whose faith enshrines the monsters which it breeds ; 
" Who, bolder ev'n than Nemrod, think to rise, 
" By nonsense heap'd on nonsense, to the skies ; 
" Ye shall have miracles, ay, sound ones too, 
" Seen, heard, attested, ev'ry thing — but true. 
" Your preaching zealots, too inspir'd to seek 
" One grace of meaning for the things they speak ; 
" Your martyrs, ready to shed out their blood, 
" For truths too heav'nly to be understood ; 
" And your State Priests, sole vendors of the lore 
" That works salvation: — as, on Aya's shore, 



" Where none hut priests are privileg'd to trade 

" In that best marble of which Gods are made ; * 

" They shall have mysteries — ay, precious stuff 

" For knaves to thrive by — mysteries enough; 

" Dark, tangled doctrines, dark as fraud can weave, 

" Which simple votaries shall on trust receive, 

" WTiile craftier feign belief, till they believe. 

" A Heav'n too ye must have, ye lords of dust, — 

" A splendid Paradise, — pure souls, ye must: 

" That Prophet ill sustains his holy call, 

" Who finds not heav'ns to suit the tastes of all ; 

" Houris for boys, omniscience for sages, 

" And wings and glories for all ranks and ages. 

" Yain things ! — as lust or vanity inspires, 

" The Heav'n of each is but what each desires, 

" And, soul or sense, whate'er the object be, 

" Man would be man to all eternity ! 

" So let him — Eblis ! grant this crowning curse, 

" But keep him what he is, no Hell were worse." 

* The material of which images of Gaudma (the Birman Deity) 
are made, is held sacred. " Birmans may not purchase the marble 
in mass, but are suffered, and indeed encouraged, to buy figures of 
the Deity ready made." — Symes's Ava, vol. ii. p. 376. 



46 



LALLA ROOKH. 



" Oh my lost soul ! " exclaim'd the shudd'ring maid, 
Whose ears had drunk like poison all he said : — 
Mokanna started — not abash'd, afraid, — 
He knew no more of fear than one who dwells 
Beneath the tropics knows of icicles ! 
But, in those dismal words that reach'd his ear, 
" Oh my lost soul ! " there was a sound so drear, 
So like that voice, among the sinful dead, 
In which the legend o'er Hell's Gate is read, 
That, new as 'twas from her, whom nought could dim 
Or sink till now, it startled even him. 



" Ha, my fair Priestess!" — thus, with ready wile, 
The' impostor turn'd to greet her — " thou, whose smile 
" Hath inspiration in its rosy beam 
" Beyond the' Enthusiast's hope or Prophet's dream ! 
" Light of the faith ! who twin'st religion's zeal 
" So close with love's, men know not which they feel, 
" Nor which to sigh for, in their trance of heart, 
" The heav'n thou preachest or the heav'n thou art ! 
" What should I be without thee ? without thee 
" How dull were power, how joyless victory ! 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 47 

" Though borne by angels, if that smile of thine 

" Bless'd not my banner, 'twere but half divine. 

" But — why so mournful, child? those eyes, that shone 

" All life last night — what! — is their glory gone? 

" Come, come — this morn's fatigue hath made them pale, 

" They want rekindling — suns themselves would fail, 

" Did not their comets bring, as I to thee, 

" From light's own fount supplies of brilliancy. 

" Thou seest this cup — no juice of earth is here, 

" But the pure waters of that upper sphere, 

" Whose rills o'er ruby beds and topaz flow, 

" Catching the gem's bright colour as they go. 

" Nightly my Genii come and fill these urns — 

" Nay, drink — in every drop life's essence burns; 

<e 'Twill make that soul all fire, those eyes all lights 

" Come, come, I want thy loveliest smiles to-night : 

" There is a youth — why start ? — thou saw'st him then ; 

" Look'd he not nobly ? such the godlike men 

" Thou'lt have to woo thee in the bowers above ; — 

" Though he, I fear, hath thoughts too stern for love, 

" Too rul'd by that cold enemy of bliss 

" The world calls virtue — we must conquer this ; — 



48 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Nay, shrink not, pretty sage ! 'tis not for thee 

" To scan the mazes of Heav'n's mystery : 

" The steel must pass through fire, ere it can yield 

" Fit instruments for mighty hands to wield. 

" This very night I mean to try the art 

" Of powerful beauty on that warrior's heart. 

" All that my Haram boasts of bloom and wit, 

" Of skill and charms, most rare and exquisite, 

" Shall tempt the boy; — young Mirzala's blue eyes, 

" Whose sleepy lid like snow on violets lies ; 

" Arouya's cheeks, warm as a spring-day sun, 

" And lips that, like the seal of Solomon, 

" Have magic in their pressure ; Zeba's lute, 

" And Lilla's dancing feet, that gleam and shoot 

" Rapid and white as sea-birds o'er the deep — 

" All shall combine their witching powers to steep 

" My convert's spirit in that softening trance, 

" From which to heav'n is but the next advance ; — 

" That glowing, yielding fusion of the breast, 

" On which Religion stamps her image best. 

" But hear me, Priestess ! — though each nymph of these 

" Hath some peculiar, practis'd power to please, 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 49 

" Some glance or step which, at the mirror tried, 

" First charms herself, then all the world beside ; 

" There still wants one, to make the victory sure, 

" One who in every look joins every lure ; 

" Through whom all beauty's beams concenter'd pass, 

" Dazzling and warm, as through love's burning glass ; 

" Whose gentle lips persuade without a word, 

" Whose words, ev'n when unmeaning, are ador'd, 

" Like inarticulate breathings from a shrine, 

" Which our faith takes for granted are divine ! 

" Such is the nymph we want, all warmth and light, 

" To crown the rich temptations of to-night ; 

" Such the refin'd enchantress that must be 

" This hero's vanquisher, — and thou art she ! " 

With her hands clasp'd, her lips apart and pale, 
The maid had stood, gazing upon the Veil 
From which these words, like south winds through a fence 
Of Kerzrah now'rs, came fill'd with pestilence ; * 

* " It is commonly said in Persia, that if a man breathe in the 
hot south wind, which in June or July passes over that flower (the 
Kerzereh), it will kill him." — Thevenot. 




So boldly utter'd too ! as if all dread 
Of frowns from her, of virtuous frowns, were fled, 
And the wretch felt assur'd that, once plung'd in, 
Her woman's soul would know no pause in sin ! 



At first, though mute she listen'd, like a dream 
Seem'd all he said : nor could her mind, whose beam 
As yet was weak, penetrate half his scheme. 
But when, at length, he utter'd, " Thou art she ! " 
All flash'd at once, and shrieking piteously, 
" Oh not for worlds ! " she cried — " Great God ! to whom 
" I once knelt innocent, is this my doom ? 
" Are all my dreams, my hopes of heav'nly bliss, 
" My purity, my pride, then come to this, — 
" To live, the wanton of a fiend ! to be 
" The pander of his guilt — oh infamy ! 
" And sunk, myself, as low as hell can steep 
" In its hot flood, drag others down as deep ! 
" Others — ha! yes — that youth who came to-day — 
" Not him I lov'd — not him — oh ! do but say, 
" But swear to me this moment 'tis not he, 
" And I will serve, dark fiend, will worship even thee !" 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 51 

(i Beware, young raving thing ! — in time beware, 
" Nor utter what I cannot, must not bear, 
" Ev'n from thy lips. Go — try thy lute, thy voice, 
" The boy must feel their magic; — I rejoice 
" To see those fires, no matter whence they rise, 
" Once more illuming my fair Priestess' eyes ; 
" And should the youth, whom soon those eyes shall warm, 
" Indeed resemble thy dead lover's form, 
a So much the happier wilt thou find thy doom, 
(< As one warm lover, full of life and bloom, 
" Excels ten thousand cold ones in the tomb. 
" Nay, nay, no frowning, sweet ! — those eyes were made 
" For love, not anger — I must be obey'd." 

" Obey'd! — 'tis well : — yes, I deserve it all — 
" On me, on me Heav'n's vengeance cannot fall 
(i Too heavily — but Azim, brave and true 
" And beautiful — must he be ruin'd too? 
" Must he too, glorious as he is, be driven 
i( A renegade like me from Love and Heaven ? 
" Like me ? — weak wretch, I wrong him — not like me ; 
" No — he's all truth and strength and purity ! 



52 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Fill up your madd'ning hell-cup to the brim, 

" Its witch'ry, fiends, will have no charm for him. 

" Let loose your glowing wantons from their bowers, 

" He loves, he loves, and can defy their powers ! 

" Wretch as I am, in his heart still I reign 

" Pure as when first we met, without a stain ! 

" Though ruin'd — lost — my memory, like a charm 

" Left by the dead, still keeps his soul from harm. 

" Oh ! never let him know how deep the brow 

" He kiss'd at parting is dishonoured now ; — 

" Ne'er tell him how debas'd, how sunk is she, 

" Whom once he lov'd — once ! — still loves dotingly. 

"Thou laugh'st, tormentor, — what! — thou'lt brand 

my name ? 
" Do, do — in vain — he'll not believe my shame — 
" He thinks me true, that nought beneath God's sky 
" Could tempt or change me, and — so once thought I. 
" But this is past — though worse than death my lot, 
" Than hell — 'tis nothing while he knows it not. 
" Far off to some benighted land I'll fly, 
" Where sunbeam ne'er shall enter till I die ; 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 53 



" Where none will ask the lost one whence she came, 

" But I may fade and fall without a name. 

" And thou — curst man or fiend, whate'er thou art, 

" Who found'st this burning plague-spot in my heart, 

" And spread'st it — oh, so quick ! — thro' soul and frame, 

" With more than demon's art, till I became 

u A loathsome thing, all pestilence, all flame ! — 

" If, When I'm gone " 

" Hold, fearless maniac, hold, 
" Nor tempt my rage — by Heaven, not half so bold 
" The puny bird, that dares with teasing hum 
" Within the crocodile's stretch'd jaws to come ! * 
" And so thou'lt fly, forsooth? — what ! — give up all 
" Thy chaste dominion in the Haram Hall, 
" Where now to Love and now to Alla given, 
" Half mistress and half saint, thou hang'st as even 
" As doth Medina's tomb, 'twixt hell and heaven ! 

* The humming bird is said to run this risk for the purpose of 
picking the crocodile's teeth. The same circumstance is related of 
the lapwing, as a fact to which he was witness, by Paul Lucas, 
Voyage fait en 1714. 

The ancient story concerning the Trochilus, or humming-bird, 
entering with impunity into the mouth of the crocodile, is firmly 
believed at Java. — Barrows Cochin- China. 



54 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Thou'lt fly? — as easily may reptiles run 

" The gaunt snake once hath fix'd his eyes upon ; 

" As easily, when caught, the prey may be 

" Pluck'd from his loving folds, as thou from me. 

" No, no, 'tis fix'd — let good or ill betide, 

" Thou'rt mine till death, till death Mokanna's bride ! 

" Hast thou forgot thy oath?" — 

At this dread word, 
The Maid, whose spirit his rude taunts had stirr'd 
Through all its depths, and rous'd an anger there, 
That burst and lighten'd ev'n through her despair — 
Shrunk back, as if a blight were in the breath 
That spoke that word, and stagger'd, pale as death. 

" Yes, my sworn bride, let others seek in bowers 
" Their bridal place — the charnel vault was ours ! 
" Instead of scents and balms, for thee and me 
" Rose the rich steams of sweet mortality ; 
" Gay, flickering death-lights shone while we were wed, 
" And, for our guests, a row of goodly Dead, 
" (Immortal spirits in their time, no doubt,) 
" From reeking shrouds upon the rite look'd out ! 



" That oath thou heard'st more lips than thine repeat — 

" That cup — thou shudd'rest, Lady, — was it sweet? 

" That cup we pledg'd, the charnel's choicest wine, 

" Hath bound thee — ay — body and soul all mine; 

" Bound thee by chains that, whether blest or curst 

" No matter now, not hell itself shall burst ! 

" Hence, woman, to the Haram, and look gay, 

" Look wild, look — any thing but sad; yet stay — 

" One moment more — from what this night hath pass'd, 

" I see thou know'st me, know'st me well at last. 

" Ha ! ha ! and so, fond thing, thou thought'st all true, 

" And that I love mankind ? — I do, I do — 

" As victims, love them ; as the sea-dog doats 

" Upon the small, sweet fry that round him floats ; 

" Or, as the Nile-bird loves the slime that gives 

" That rank and venomous food on which she lives ? * — 

" And, now thou seest my souFs angelic hue, 
" 'Tis time these features were uncurtain'd too : — 



* Circum easdem ripas (N"ili, viz.) ales est Ibis. Ea serpentium 
populatur ova, gratissimamque ex his escam nidis suis refert. — 
Solinus. 



56 LALLA ROOKH. 



" This brow, whose light — oh rare celestial light! 
" Hath been reserv'd to bless thy favour'd sight ; 
" These dazzling eyes, before whose shrouded might 
" Thou'st seen immortal Man kneel down and quake — 
" Would that they were heaven's lightnings for his sake ! 
" But turn and look — then wonder, if thou wilt, 
" That I should hate, should take revenge, by guilt, 
" Upon the hand, whose mischief or whose mirth 
" Sent me thus maim'd and monstrous upon earth ; 
" And on that race who, though more vile they be 
" Than mowing apes, are demi-gods to me ! 
" Here — judge if hell, with all its power to damn, 
" Can add one curse to the foul thing I am ! " — 

He rais'd his veil — the Maid turn'd slowly round, 
Look'd at him — shriek'd — and sunk upon the ground! 



LALLA ROOKH. 57 



On their arrival, next night, at the place of encamp- 
ment, they were surprised and delighted to find the 
groves all around illuminated; some artists of Yamt- 
cheou * having been sent on previously for the purpose; 
On each side of the green alley, which led to the Royal 
Pavilion, artificial sceneries of bamboo-work f were 
erected, representing arches, minarets, and towers, from 
which hung thousands of silken lanterns, painted by the 
most delicate pencils of Canton. — Nothing could be 
more beautiful than the leaves of the mango-trees and 

* " The feast of Lanterns is celebrated at Yamtcheou with more 
magnificence than any where else : and the report goes, that the 
illuminations there are so splendid, that an Emperor once, not 
daring openly to leave his Court to go thither, committed himself 
with the Queen and several Princesses of his family into the hands 
of a magician, who promised to transport them thither in a trice. 
He made them in the night to ascend magnificent thrones that were 
borne up by swans, which in a moment arrived at Yamtcheou. 
The Emperor saw at his leisure all the solemnity, being carried upon 
a cloud that hovered over the city and descended by degrees ; and 
came back again with the same speed and equipage, nobody at 
court perceiving his absence." — The present State of China, p. 156. 

f See a description of the nuptials of Vizier Alee in the Asiatic 
Annual Register of 1804. 



58 LALLA ROOKH. 



acacias, shining in the light of the bamboo-scenery, 
which shed a lustre round as soft as that of the nights 
of Peristan. 

Lalla Rookh, however, who was too much occu- 
pied by the sad story of Zelica and her lover, to give 
a thought to any thing else, except, perhaps, him who 
related it, hurried on through this scene of splendour to 
her pavilion, — greatly to the mortification of the poor 
artists of Yamtcheou, — and was followed with equal 
rapidity by the Great Chamberlain, cursing, as he went, 
that ancient Mandarin, whose parental anxiety in light- 
ing up the shores of the lake, where his beloved daughter 
had wandered and been lost, was the origin of these 
fantastic Chinese illuminations. * 



* " The vulgar ascribe it to an accident that happened in the 
family of a famous mandarin, whose daughter walking one evening 
upon the shore of a lake, fell in and was drowned ; this afflicted 
father, with his family, ran thither, and, the better to find her, he 
caused a great company of lanterns to be lighted. All the in- 
habitants of the place thronged after him with torches. The year 
ensuing they made fires upon the shores the same day ; they con- 
tinued the ceremony every year, every one lighted his lantern, and 
by degrees it commenced into a custom." — Present State of China. 



LALLA ROOKH. 59 



Without a moment's delay, young Feramorz was 
introduced, and Fadladeen, who could never make up 
his mind as to the merits of a poet, till he knew the re- 
ligious sect to which he belonged, was about to ask him 
whether he was a Shia or a Sooni, when Laela Rookh 
impatiently clapped her hands for silence, and the 
youth, being seated upon the musnud near her, pro- 
ceeded : — 



60 LALLA ROOKH. 



Prepare thy soul, young Azim! — thou hast brav'd 

The bands of Greece, still mighty though enslav'd ; 

Hast fac'd her phalanx, arm'd with all its fame, 

Her Macedonian pikes and globes of flame ; 

All this hast fronted, with firm heart and brow, 

But a more perilous trial waits thee now, — 

Woman's bright eyes, a dazzling host of eyes 

From every land where woman smiles or sighs ; 

Of every hue, as Love may chance to raise 

His black or azure banner in their blaze ; 

And each sweet mode of warfare, from the flash 

That lightens boldly through the shadowy lash, 

To the sly, stealing splendours, almost hid, 

Like swords half-sheath'd, beneath the downcast lid : - 

Such, Azim, is the lovely, luminous host 

Now led against thee ; and, let conquerors boast 

Their fields of fame, he who in virtue arms 

A young, warm spirit against beauty's charms, 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 61 

Who feels her brightness, yet defies her thrall, 
Is the best, bravest conqueror of them all. 

Now, through the Harani chambers, moving lights 
And busy shapes proclaim the toilet's rites; — 
From room to room the ready handmaids hie, 
Some skill'd to wreath the turban tastefully, 
Or hang the veil, in negligence of shade, 
O'er the warm blushes of the youthful maid, 
Who, if between the folds but one eye shone, 
Like Seba's Queen could vanquish with that one : — * 
While some bring leaves of Henna, to imbue 
The fingers' ends with a bright roseate hue, f 
So bright, that in the mirror's depth they seem 
Like tips of coral branches in the stream : 
And others mix the Kohol's jetty dye, 
To give that long, dark languish to the eye, % 

* " Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes." — Sol. 
Song. 

f " They tinged the ends of her fingers scarlet with Henna, so 
that they resembled branches of coral." — Story of Prince Futtun 
in Bahardanush. 

| " The women blacken the inside of their eyelids with a powder 
named the black Kohol." — Russel. 



62 LALLA ROOKH. 



Which makes the maids, whom kings are proud to cull 

From fair Circassia's vales, so beautiful. 

All is in motion ; rings and plumes and pearls 

Are shining every where : — some younger girls 

Are gone by moonlight to the garden-beds, 

To gather fresh, cool chaplets for their heads ; — 

Gay creatures ! sweet, though mournful, 'tis to see 

How each prefers a garland from that tree 

Which brings to mind her childhood's innocent day, 

And the dear fields and friendships far away. 

The maid of India, blest again to hold 

In her full lap the Champac's leaves of gold, * 



" None of these ladies," says Shaw, " take themselves to be 
completely dressed, till they have tinged the hair and edges of 
their eyelids with the powder of lead ore. Now, as this operation 
is performed by dipping first into the powder a small wooden 
bodkin of the thickness of a quill, and then drawing it afterwards 
through the eyelids over the ball of the eye, we shall have a lively 
image of what the Prophet ( Jer. iv. 30.) may be supposed to mean 
by rending the eyes with painting. This practice is no doubt of 
great antiquity ; for besides the instance already taken notice of, 
we find that where Jezebel is said (2 Kings, ix. 30.) to have painted 
her face, the original words are, she adjusted her eyes with the 
powder of lead-ore." — Shaivs Travels. 

* " The appearance of the blossoms of the gold-coloured Campac 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 63 

Thinks of the time when, by the Ganges' flood, 
Her little playmates scatter'd many a bud 
Upon her long black hair, with glossy gleam 
Just dripping from the consecrated stream ; 
While the young Arab, haunted by the smell 
Of her own mountain flowers, as by a spell, — 
The sweet Elcaya *, and that courteous tree 
Which bows to all who seek its canopy, | 
Sees, call'd up round her by these magic scents, 
The well, the camels, and her father's tents ; 
Sighs for the home she left with little pain, 
And wishes ev'n its sorrows back again ! 

Meanwhile, through vast illuminated halls, 
Silent and bright, where nothing but the falls 



on the black hair of the Indian women has supplied the Sanscrit 
Poets with many elegant allusions." — See Asiatic Researches, 
vol. iv. 

* A tree famous for its perfume, and common on the hills of 
Yemen. — Niebuhr. 

j Of the genus mimosa, " which droops its branches whenever 
any person approaches it, seeming as* if it saluted those who retire 
under its shade." — Ibid. 



64 LALLA ROOKH. 



Of fragrant waters, gushing with cool sound 
From many a jasper fount, is heard around, 
Young Azim roams bewilder'd, — nor can guess 
What means this maze of light and loneliness. 
Here, the way leads, o'er tesselated floors 
Or mats of Cairo, through long corridors, 
Where, rang'd in cassolets and silver urns, 
Sweet wood of aloe or of sandal burns ; 
And spicy rods, such as illume at night 
The bowers of Tibet *, send forth odorous light, 
Like Peris' wands, when pointing out the road 
For some pure Spirit to its blest abode : — 
And here, at once, the glittering saloon 
Bursts on his sight, boundless and bright as noon ; 
Where, in the midst, reflecting back the rays 
In broken rainbows, a fresh fountain plays 
High as the' enamelTd cupola, which towers 
All rich with Arabesques of gold and flowers : 
And the mosaic floor beneath shines through 
The sprinkling of that fountain's silv'ry dew, 

* " Cloves are a principal ingredient in the composition of the 
perfumed rods, which men of rank keep constantly burning in their 
presence." — Turner's Tibet. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 65 

Like the wet, glistening shells, of every dye, 
That on the margin of the Red Sea lie. 

Here too he traces the kind visitings 
Of woman's love in those fair, living things 
Of land and wave, whose fate — in bondage thrown 
For their weak loveliness — is like her own ! 
On one side gleaming with a sudden grace 
Through water, brilhant as the crystal vase 
In which it undulates, small fishes shine, 
Like golden ingots from a fairy mine ; — 
While, on the other, latticed lightly in 
With odoriferous woods of Comoein,* 
Each brilliant bird that wings the air is seen ; — 
Gay, sparkling loories, such as gleam between 
The crimson blossoms of the coral tree | 
In the warm Isles of India's sunny sea : 



* " C'est d'ou vient le bois d' aloes que les Arabes appellent Oud 
Comari, et celui du sandal, qui s'y trouve en grande quantite." — 
D'Heroelot 

f " Thousands of variegated loories visit the coral-trees." — 
Barrow. 



66 LALLA ROOKH. 



Mecca's blue sacred pigeon *, and the thrush 
Of Hindostan f, whose holy warblings gush, 
At evening, from the tall pagoda's top ; — 
Those golden birds that, in the spice-time, drop 
About the gardens, drunk with that sweet food J 
Whose scent hath lur'd them o'er the summer flood ; § 
And those that under Araby's soft sun 
Build their high nests of budding cinnamon : || 
In short, all rare and beauteous things, that fly 
Through the pure element, here calmly lie 



* " In Mecca there are quantities of blue pigeons, which none 
will affright or abuse, much less kill." — Pitt's Account of the Ma- 
hometans. 

f " The Pagoda Thrush is esteemed among the first choristers of 
India. It sits perched on the sacred pagodas, and from thence 
delivers its melodious song." — Pennant's Hindostan. 

J Tavernier adds, that while the Birds of Paradise lie in this in- 
toxicated state, the emmets come and eat off their legs ; and that 
hence it is they are said to have no feet. 

§ Birds of Paradise, which, at the nutmeg season, come in flights 
from the southern isles to India ; and " the strength of the nutmeg," 
says Tavernier, " so intoxicates them, that they fall dead drunk to 
the earth." 

|| " That bird which liveth in Arabia, and buildeth its nest with 
cinnamon." — Brown's Vulgar Errors. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 67 

Sleeping in light, like the green birds * that dwell 
In Eden's radiant fields of asphodel ! 

So on, through scenes past all imagining, 
More like the luxuries of that impious King,f 
Whom Death's dark angel, with his lightning torch, 
Struck down and blasted even in Pleasure's porch, 
Than the pure dwelling of a Prophet sent, 
Arm'd with Heav'n's sword, for man's enfranchisement — 
Young Azim wander'd, looking sternly round, 
His simple garb and war-boots' clanking sound 
But ill according with the pomp and grace 
And silent lull of that voluptuous place. 

" Is this, then," thought the youth, " is this the way 
" To free man's spirit from the dead'ning sway 
" Of worldly sloth, — to teach him while he lives, 
" To know no bliss but that which virtue gives, 

* " The spirits of the martyrs will be lodged in the crops of 
green birds." — Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 421. 

j - Shedad, who made the delicious gardens of Irim, in imitation 
of Paradise, and was destroyed by lightning the first time he at- 
tempted to enter them. 



68 LALLA ROOKH. 



" And Avhen he dies, to leave his lofty name 

" A light, a landmark on the cliffs of fame ? 

" It was not so, Land of the generous thought 

" And daring deed, thy godlike sages taught ; 

" It was not thus, in bowers of wanton ease, 

" Thy Freedom nurs'd her sacred energies ; 

" Oh ! not beneath the' enfeebling, withering glow 

" Of such dull luxury did those myrtles grow, 

" With which she wreath'd her sword, when she would 

dare 
" Immortal deeds ; but in the bracing air 
" Of toil, — of temperance, — of that high, rare, 
" Ethereal virtue, which alone can breathe 
" Life, health, and lustre into Freedom's wreath. 
" Who, that surveys this span of earth we press, — 
" This speck of life in time's great wilderness, 
" This narrow isthmus 'twixt two boundless seas, 
" The past, the future, two eternities ! — 
" Would sully the bright spot, or leave it bare, 
" When he might build him a proud temple there, 
" A name, that long shall hallow all its space, 
" And be each purer soul's high resting-place. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 69 

" But no — it cannot be, that one, whom God 

" Has sent to break the wizard Falsehood's rod, — 

" A Prophet of the Truth, whose mission draws 

" Its rights from Heaven, should thus profane its cause 

" With the world's vulgar pomps; — no, no, — I see — 

" He thinks me weak — this glare of luxury 

w Is but to tempt, to try the eaglet gaze 

(l Of my young soul — shine on, 'twill stand the blaze ! " 

So thought the youth; — but, ev'n while he defied 
This witching scene, he felt its witchery glide 
Through ev'ry sense. The perfume breathing round, 
Like a pervading spirit ; — the still sound 
Of falling waters, lulling as the song 
Of Indian bees at sunset, when they throng 
Around the fragrant Nilica, and deep 
In its blue blossoms hum themselves to sleep ; * 
And music, too — dear music ! that can touch 
Beyond all else the soul that loves it much — 

* " My Pandits assure me that the plant before us (the Xilica) 
is their Sephalica, thus named because the bees are supposed to 
sleep on its blossoms." — Sir W. Jones. 



70 LALLA ROOKH. 



Now heard far off, so far as but to seem 
Like the faint, exquisite music of a dream ; 
All was too much for him, too full of bliss, 
The heart could nothing feel, that felt not this ; 
Soften'd he sunk upon a couch, and gave 
His soul up to sweet thoughts, like wave on wave 
Succeeding in smooth seas, when storms are laid ; 
He thought of Zelica, his own dear maid, 
And of the time when, full of blissful sighs, 
They sat and look'd into each other's eyes, 
Silent and happy — as if God had given 
Nought else worth looking at on this side heaven. 

" Oh, my lov'd mistress, thou, whose spirit still 
" Is with me, round me, wander where I will — 
" It is for thee, for thee alone I seek 
" The paths of glory ; to light up thy cheek 
" With warm approval — in that gentle look 
u To read my praise, as in an angel's book, 
" And think all toils rewarded, when from thee 
" I gain a smile worth immortality ! 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 71 

" How shall I bear the moment, when restor'd 

u To that young heart where I alone am Lord, 

" Though of such bliss unworthy, — since the best 

" Alone deserve to be the happiest ; — 

" When from those lips, unbreath'd upon for years, 

" I shall again kiss off the soul-felt tears, 

" And find those tears warm as when last they started, 

" Those sacred kisses pure as when we parted ? 

" O my own life ! — why should a single day, 

" A moment keep me from those arms away ? " 

While thus he thinks, still nearer on the breeze 
Come those delicious, dream-like harmonies, 
Each note of which but adds new, downy links 
To the soft chain' in which his spirit sinks. 
He turns him tow'rd the sound, and far away 
Through a long vista, sparkling with the play 
Of countless lamps, — like the rich track which Day 
Leaves on the waters, when he sinks from us, 
So long the path, its light so tremulous ; — 
He sees a group of female forms advance, 
Some chain'd together in the mazy dance 



72 LALLA ROOKH. 



By fetters, forg'd in the green sunny bowers, 
As they were captives to the King of Flowers ; * 
And some disporting round, unlink'd and free, 
Who seem'd to mock their sisters' slavery ; 
And round and round them still, in wheeling flight, 
Went, like gay moths about a lamp at night ; 
While others wak'd, as gracefully along 
Their feet kept time, the very soul of song, 
From psaltery, pipe, and lutes of heavenly thrill, 
Or their own youthful voices, heavenlier still. 
And now they come, now pass before his eye, 

Forms such as Nature moulds, when she would vie 

With Fancy's pencil, and give birth to things 

Lovely beyond its fairest picturings. 

Awhile they dance before him, then divide, 

Breaking, like rosy clouds at even-tide 

Around the rich pavilion of the sun, — 

Till silently dispersing, one by one, 

Through many a path, that from the chamber leads 

To gardens, terraces, and moonlight meads, 

* " They deferred it till the King of Flowers should ascend his 
throne of enamelled foliage." — The Bahardanush. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 73 

Their distant laughter comes upon the wind, 
And but one trembling nymph remains behind, — 
Beck'ning them back in vain, for they are gone, 
And she is left in all that light alone ; 
No veil to curtain o'er her beauteous brow, 
In its young bashfulness more beauteous now ; 
But a light golden chain-work round her hair, * 
Such as the maids of Yezd f and Shieas wear, 
From which, on either side, gracefully hung 
A golden amulet, in the Arab tongue, 
Engraven o'er with some immortal line 
From Holy Writ, or bard scarce less divine ; 
While her left hand, as shrinkingly she stood, 
Held a small lute of gold and sandal-wood, 



* " One of the head-dresses of the Persian women is composed 
of a light golden chain-work, set with small pearls, with a thin gold 
plate pendant, about the bigness of a crown-piece, on which is im- 
pressed an Arabian prayer, and which hangs upon the cheek below 
the ear." — Hanways Travels. 

•j* " Certainly the women of Yezd are the handsomest women in 
Persia. The proverb is, that to live happy a man must have a wife 
of Yezd, eat the bread of Yezdecas, and drink the wine of Shiraz." 
— Tavemier. 



74 LALLA ROOKH, 



Which, once or twice, she touch'd with hurried strain, 

Then took her trembling fingers off again. 

But when at length a timid glance she stole 

At Azim, the sweet gravity of soul 

She saw through all his features calm'd her fear, 

And, like a half-tam'd antelope, more near, 

Though shrinking still, she came ; — then sat her down 

Upon a musnud's * edge, and, bolder grown, 

In the pathetic mode of Isfahan f 

Touch'd a preluding strain, and thus began : — 

There's a bower of roses by Bendemeer's J stream, 
And the nightingale sings round it all the day long ; 

In the time of my childhood 'twas like a sweet dream, 
To sit in the roses and hear the bird's song. 

That bower and its music I never forget, 

But oft when alone, in the bloom of the year, 

* Musnuds are cushioned seats, usually reserved for persons of 
distinction. 

j The Persians, like the ancient Greeks, call their musical modes 
or Perdas by the names of different countries or cities, as the mode 
of Isfahan, the mode of Irak, &c. 

j A river which flows near the ruins of Chilminar. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 75 

I think — is the nightingale singing there yet? 

Are the roses still bright by the calm Bendemeer ? 

No, the roses soon wither'd that hung o'er the wave, 
But some blossoms were gather'd, while freshly they 
shone, 

And a dew was distill'd from their flowers, that gave 
All the fragrance of summer, when summer was gone. 

Thus memory draws from delight, ere it dies, 
An essence that breathes of it many a year ; 

Thus bright to my soul, as 'twas then to my eyes, 
Is that bower on the banks of the calm Bendemeer ! 

" Poor maiden ! " thought the youth, " if thou wert 
sent, 
" With thy soft lute and beauty's blandishment, 
" To wake unholy wishes in this heart, 
" Or tempt its truth, thou little know'st the art. 
" For though thy lip should sweetly counsel wrong, 
" Those vestal eyes would disavow its song. 



76 LALLA ROOKH. 



" But thou hast breath'd such purity, thy lay 

" Returns so fondly to youth's virtuous day, 

" And leads thy soul — if e'er it wander'd thence — 

" So gently back to its first innocence, 

" That I would sooner stop the' unchained dove, 

" When swift returning to its home of love, 

" And round its snowy wing new fetters twine, 

" Than turn from virtue one pure wish of thine ! " 

Scarce had this feeling pass'd, when, sparkling through 
The gently open'd curtains of light blue 
That veil'd the breezy casement, countless eyes, 
Peeping like stars through the blue evening skies, 
Look'd laughing in, as if to mock the pair 
That sat so still and melancholy there : — 
And now the curtains fly apart, and in 
From the cool air, 'mid showers of jessamine 
Which those without fling after them in play, 
Two lightsome maidens spring, — lightsome as they 
Who live in the' air on odours, — and around 
The bright saloon, scarce conscious of the ground, 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 77 

Chase one another, in a varying dance 
Of mirth and languor, coyness and advance, 
Too eloquently like love's warm pursuit : — 
While she, who sung so gently to the lute 
Her dream of home, steals timidly away, 
Shrinking as violets do in summer's ray, — 
But takes with her from Azim's heart that sigh 
We sometimes give to forms that pass us by 
In the world's crowd, too lovely to remain, 
Creatures of light we never see again ! 

Around the white necks of the nymphs who danc'd 
Hung carcanets of orient gems, that glanc'd 
More brilliant than the sea-glass glittering o'er 
The hills of crystal on the Caspian shore ; * 
While from their long, dark tresses, in a fall 
Of curls descending, bells as musical 



* " To the north of us (on the coast of the Caspian, near Badku,) 
was a mountain, which sparkled like diamonds, arising from the 
sea-glass and crystals with which it abounds." — Journey of the 
Russian Ambassador to Persia, 1746. 



78 LALLA ROOKH. 



As those that, on the golden-shafted trees 

Of Eden, shake in the eternal breeze, * 

Rung round their steps, at ev'ry bound more sweet, 

As 'twere the' extatic language of their feet. 

At length the chase was o'er, and they stood wreath'd 

Within each other's arms ; while soft there breath'd 

Through the cool casement, mingled with the sighs 

Of moonlight flowers, music that seem'd to rise 

From some still lake, so liquidly it rose ; 

And, as it swelFd again at each faint close, 

The ear could track, through, all that maze of chords 

And young sweet voices, these impassion'd words : — 



A Spirit there is, whose fragrant sigh 
Is burning now through earth and air : 

Where cheeks are blushing, the Spirit is nigh ; 
Where lips are meeting, the Spirit is there ! 



* " To which will be added the sound of the bells, hanging on 
the trees, which will be put in motion by the wind proceeding 
from the throne of God, as often as the blessed wish for music." — 
Sale. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 79 

His breath is the soul of flowers like these, 
And his floating eyes — oh ! they resemble* 

Blue water-lilies f, when the breeze 

Is making the stream around them tremble. 

Hail to thee, hail to thee, kindling power ! 

Spirit of Love, Spirit of Bliss ! 
Thy holiest time is the moonlight hour, 

And there never was moonlight so sweet as this. 

By the fair and brave 

Who blushing unite, 
Like the sun and wave, 

When they meet at night ; 



By the tear that shows 
When passion is nigh, 

As the rain-drop flows 
From the heat of the sky 



* " Whose wanton eyes resemble blue water-lilies, agitated by 
the breeze." — Jayadeva. 

| The blue lotus, which grows in Cashmere and in Persia. 




80 LALLA ROOKH. 



By the first love-beat 

Of the youthful heart, 
By the bliss to meet, 

And the pain to part ; 

By all that thou hast 

To mortals given, 
Which — oh, could it last, 

This earth were heaven ! 

We call thee hither, entrancing Power ! 

Spirit of Love ! Spirit of Bliss ! 
Thy holiest time is the moonlight hour, 

And there never was moonlight so sweet as this. 



Impatient of a scene, whose luxuries stole, 
Spite of himself, too deep into his soul, 
And where, midst all that the young heart loves most, 
Flowers, music, smiles, to yield was to be lost, 
The youth had started up, and turn'd away 
From the light nymphs, and their luxurious lay, 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 81 

To muse upon the pictures that hung round,* — 

Bright images, that spoke without a sound, 

And views, like vistas into fairy ground. 

But here again new spells came o'er his sense : — 

All that the pencil's mute omnipotence 

Could call up into life, of soft and fair, 

Of fond and passionate, was glowing there ; 

Nor yet too warm, but touch'd with that fine art 

Which paints of pleasure but the purer part ; 

Which knows ev'n Beauty when half-veil'd is best, — 

Like her own radiant planet of the west, 

Whose orb when half retir'd looks loveliest, f 

There hung the history of the Genii-King, 

Trac'd through each gay, voluptuous wandering 



* It has been generally supposed that the Mahometans prohibit 
all pictures of animals ; but Toderini shows that, though the prac- 
tice is forbidden by the Koran, they are not more averse to painted 
figures and images than other people. From Mr. Murphy's work, 
too, we find that the Arabs of Spain had no objection to the intro- 
duction of figures into painting. 

f This is not quite astronomically true. " Dr. Hadley (says 
Keil) has shown that Venus is brightest when she is about forty 
degrees removed from the sun; and that then but only a fourth 
part of her lucid disk is to be seen from the earth." 



82 LALLA ROOKH. 



With her from Saba's bowers, in whose bright eyes 
He read that to be blest is to be wise ; * — 
Here fond ZuLEiKAf woos with open arms 
The Hebrew boy, who flies from her young charms, 
Yet, flying, turns to gaze, and, half undone, 
Wishes that Heav'n and she could both be won ; 
And here Mohammed, born for love and guile, 
Forgets the Koran in his Mary's smile ; — 



* For the loves of King Solomon (who was supposed to preside 
over the whole race of Genii) with Balkis, the Queen of Sheba or 
Saba, see D'Herbelot, and the Notes on the Koran, chap. 2. 

" In the palace which Solomon ordered to be built against the 
arrival of the Queen of Saba, the floor or pavement was of trans- 
parent glass, laid over running water, in which fish were swim- 
ming." This led the Queen into a very natural mistake, which the 
Koran has not thought beneath its dignity to commemorate. " It 
was said unto her, ' Enter the palace.' And when she saw it she 
imagined it to be a great water ; and she discovered her legs, by 
lifting up her robe to pass through it. Whereupon Solomon said 
to her, 'Verily, this is the place evenly floored with glass.'" — 
Chap. 27. 

| The wife of Potiphar, thus named by the Orientals. 

The passion which this frail beauty of antiquity conceived for 
her young Hebrew slave has given rise to a much esteemed poem 
in the Persian language, entitled Yusef vau Zelikha, by Noureddin 
Jami ; the manuscript copy of which, in the Bodleian Library at 
Oxford, is supposed to be the finest in the whole world." — Note 
upon Notfs Translation of Hafez. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 83 

Then beckons some kind angel from above 
With a new text to consecrate their love.* 

With rapid step, yet pleas'd and lingering eye, 
Did the yonth pass these pictur'd stories by, 
And hasten'd to a casement, where the light 
Of the calm moon came in, and freshly bright 
The fields without were seen, sleeping as still 
As if no life remain'd in breeze or rill. 
Here pans'd he, while the music, now less near, 
Breath'd with a holier language on his ear, 
As though the distance, and that heav'nly ray 
Through which the sounds came floating, took away 
All that had been too earthly in the lay. 

Oh ! could he listen to such sounds unmov'd, 
And by that light — nor dream of her he lov'd ? 
Dream on, unconscious boy ! while yet thou may'st ; 
'Tis the last bliss thy soul shall ever taste. 



* The particulars of Mahomet's amour with Mary, the Coptic 
girl, in justification of which he added a new chapter to the Koran, 
may be found in Gagniers Notes upon Abulfeda, p. 151. 



Clasp yet awhile her image to thy heart, 
Ere all the light, that made it dear, depart. 
Think of her smiles as when thou saw'st them last, 
Clear, beautiful, by nought of earth o'ercast ; 
Recall her tears, to thee at parting given, 
Pure as they weep, if angels weep, in Heaven. 
Think, in her own still bower she waits thee now, 
With the same glow of heart and bloom of brow, 
Yet shrin'd in solitude — thine all, thine only, 
Like the one star above thee, bright and lonely. 
Oh ! that a dream so sweet, so long enjoy 'd, 
Should be so sadly, cruelly destroy'd ! 

The song is hush'd, the laughing nymphs are flown, 
And he is left, musing of bliss, alone ; — 
Alone? — no, not alone — that heavy sigh, 
That sob of grief, which broke from some one nigh — 
Whose could it be? — alas ! is misery found 
Here, even here, on this enchanted ground ? 
He turns, and sees a female form, close veil'd, 
Leaning, as if both heart and strength had fail'd, 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 85 

Against a pillar near; — not glittering o'er 
With gems and wreaths, such as the others wore, 
But in that deep-blue, melancholy dress,* 
Bokhaea's maidens wear in mindfulness 
Of friends or kindred, dead or far away ; — 
And such as Zelica had on that day 
He left her — when, with heart too full to speak, 
He took away her last warm tears upon his cheek. 

A strange emotion stirs within him, — more 
Than mere compassion ever wak'd before ; 
Unconsciously he opes his arms, while she 
Springs forward, as with life's last energy, 
But, swooning in that one convulsive bound, 
Sinks, ere she reach his arms, upon the ground ; — 
Her veil falls off — her faint hands clasp his knees — 
'Tis she herself! — 'tis Zelica he sees ! 
But, ah, so pale, so chang'd — none but a lover 
Could in that wreck of beauty's shrine discover 
The once ador'd divinity — ev'n he 
Stood for some moments mute, and doubtingly 

* " Deep blue is their mourning colour." — Hanway. 



86 LALLA ROOKH. 



Put back the ringlets from her brow, and gaz'd 
Upon those lids, where once such lustre blaz'd, 
Ere he could think she was indeed his own, 
Own darling maid, whom he so long had known 
In joy and sorrow, beautiful in both ; 
Who, ev'n when grief was heaviest — when loth 
He left her for the wars — in that worst hour 
Sat in her sorrow like the sweet night-flower,* 
When darkness brings its weeping glories out, 
And spreads its sighs like frankincense about. 

" Look up, my Zelica — one moment show 
" Those gentle eyes to me, that I may know 
" Thy life, thy loveliness is not all gone, 
" But there, at least, shines as it ever shone. 
" Come, look upon thy Azim — one dear glance, 
" Like those of old, were heav'n ! whatever chance 
" Hath brought thee here, oh, 'twas a blessed one ! 
" There — my lo v'd lips — they move — that kiss hath run 



* The sorrowful nyctanthes, which begins to spread its rich 
odour after sunset. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 87 

" Like the first shoot of life through every vein, 

" And now I clasp her, mine, all mine again. 

" Oh the delight — now, in this very hour, 

" When had the whole rich world been in my power, 

" I should have singled out thee, only thee, 

" From the whole world's collected treasury — - 

" To have thee here — to hanor thus fondlv o'er 

" My own, best, purest Zelica once more ! " 

It was indeed the touch of those fond lips 
Upon her eyes that chas'd their short eclipse, 
And, gradual as the snow, at Heaven's breath, 
Melts off and shows the azure flowers beneath, 
Her lids unclos'd, and the bright eyes were seen 
Gazing on his — not, as they late had been, 
Quick, restless, wild, but mournfully serene ; 
As if to lie, ev'n for that tranced minute, 
So near his heart, had consolation in it ; 
And thus to wake in his belov'd caress 
Took from her soul one half its wretchedness. 
But, when she heard him call her good and pure, 
Oh, 'twas too much — too dreadful to endure ! 



88 LALLA ROOKH. 



Shuddering she broke away from his embrace, 
And, hiding with both hands her guilty face, 
Said, in a tone whose anguish would have riven 
A heart of very marble, " Pure ! — oh Heaven ! " — 

That tone — those looks so chang'd — the withering 
blight, 
That sin and sorrow leave where'er they light ; 
The dead despondency of those sunk eyes, 
Where once, had he thus met her by surprise, 
He would have seen himself, too happy boy, 
Reflected in a thousand lights of joy ; 
And then the place, — that bright, unholy place, 
Where vice lay hid beneath each winning grace 
And charm of luxury, as the viper weaves 
Its wily covering of sweet balsam leaves, — * 
All struck upon his heart, sudden and cold 
As death itself; — it needs not to be told — 



* " Concerning the vipers, which Pliny says were frequent 
among the balsam-trees, I made very particular inquiry ; several 
were brought me alive both to Yambo and Jidda." — Bruce. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 89 

No, no — he sees it all, plain as the brand 

Of burning shame can mark — whate'er the hand, 

That could from Heav'n and him such brightness sever, 

'Tis done — to Heav'n and him she's lost for ever ! 

It was a dreadful moment ; not the tears, 

The lingering, lasting misery of years 

Could match that minute's anguish — all the worst 

Of sorrow's elements in that dark burst 

Broke o'er his soul, and, with one crash of fate, 

Laid the whole hopes of his life desolate. 

" Oh ! curse me not," she cried, as wild he toss'd 
His desperate hand tow'rds Heav'n — "though I am lost, 
" Think not that guilt, that falsehood made me fall, 
" No, no — 'twas grief, 'twas madness did it all ! 
" Nay, doubt me not — though all thy love hath ceas'd — 
" I know it hath — yet, yet believe, at least, 
" That every spark of reason's light must be 
" Quench'd in this brain, ere I could stray from thee. 
" They told me thou wert dead — why, Azim, why 
" Did we not, both of us, that instant die 



90 LALLA ROOKH. 



" When we were parted ? oh ! could'st thou but know 

" With what a deep devotedness of woe 

" I wept thy absence — o'er and o'er again 

" Thinking of thee, still thee, till thought grew pain, 

" And memory, like a drop that, night and day, 

" Falls cold and ceaseless, wore my heart away. 

" Didst thou but know how pale I sat at home, 

" My eyes still turn'd the way thou wert to come, 

" And, all the long, long night of hope and fear, 

" Thy voice and step still sounding in my ear — 

" Oh God ! thou would'st not wonder that, at last, 

" When every hope was all at once o'ercast, 

" When I heard frightful voices round me say 

" Azim is dead ! — this wretched brain gave way, 

" And I became a wreck, at random driven, 

" Without one glimpse of reason or of Heaven — 

Ci All wild — and even this quenchless love within 

" Turn'd to foul fires to light me into sin ! — 

" Thou pitiest me — I knew thou would'st — that sky 

" Hath nought beneath it half so lorn as I. 

" The fiend, who lur'd me hither — hist ! come near, 

" Or thou too, thou art lost, if he should hear — 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 91 

" Told me such things — oh ! with such devilish art, 

i( As would have ruin'd ev'n a holier heart — 

" Of thee, and of that ever-radiant sphere, 

" Where bless'd at length, if I but serv'd him here, 

" I should for ever live in thy dear sight, 

" And drink from those pure eyes eternal light. 

" Think, think how lost, how madden'd I must be, 

" To hope that guilt could lead to God or thee ! 

" Thou weep'st for me — do weep — oh, that I durst 

" Kiss off that tear ! but, no — these lips are curst, 

" They must not touch thee ; — one divine caress, 

" One blessed moment of forgetfulness 

" I've had within those arms, and that shall lie, 

" Shrin'd in my soul's deep memory till I die ; 

" The last of joy's last relics here below, 

" The one sweet drop, in all this waste of woe, 

" My heart has treasur'd from affection's spring, 

" To soothe and cool its deadly withering ! 

" But thou — yes, thou must go — for ever go ; 

" This place is not for thee — for thee ! oh no, 

" Did I but tell thee half, thy tortur'd brain 

" Would burn like mine, and mine go wild again ! 



92 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Enough, that Guilt reigns here — that hearts, once good, 
" Now tainted, chill'd, and broken, are his food. — 
" Enough, that we are parted — that there rolls 
" A flood of headlong fate between our souls, 
" Whose darkness severs me as wide from thee 
" As hell from heav'n, to all eternity ! " 

" Zelica, Zelica ! " the youth exclaim'd, 
In all the tortures of a mind inflam'd 
Almost to madness — "by that sacred Heav'n, 
" Where yet, if pray'rs can move, thou'lt be forgiven, 
" As thou art here — here, in this writhing heart, 
" All sinful, wild, and ruin'd as thou art ! 
" By the remembrance of our once pure love, 
" Which, like a church-yard light, still burns above 
" The grave of our lost souls — which guilt in thee 
" Cannot extinguish, nor despair in me ! 
" I do conjure, implore thee to fly hence — 
" If thou hast yet one spark of innocence, 

" Ely with me from this place " 

" With thee ! oh bliss ! 
" 'Tis worth whole years of torment to hear this. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 93 

" What ! take the lost one with thee ? — let her rove 

" By thy dear side, as in those days of love, 

M When we were both so happy, both so pure — 

" Too heav'nly dream ! if there's on earth a cure 

" For the sunk heart, 'tis this — day after day 

" To be the blest companion of thy way ; 

" To hear thy angel eloquence — to see 

" Those virtuous eyes for ever turn'd on me ; 

" And, in their light re-chasten'd silently, 

a Like the stain'd web that whitens in the sun, 

" Grow pure by being purely shone upon ! 

" And thou wilt pray for me — I know thou wilt — 

" At the dim vesper hour, when thoughts of guilt 

" Come heaviest o'er the heart, thou'lt lift thine eyes, 

" Full of sweet tears, unto the dark'ning skies, 

" And plead for me with Heav'n, till I can dare 

" To fix my own weak, sinful glances there ; 

" Till the good angels, when they see me cling 

" For ever near thee, pale and sorrowing, 

" Shall for thy sake pronounce my soul forgiv'n, 

" And bid thee take thy weeping slave to Heav'n ! 



94 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Oh yes, I'U fly with thee " 

Scarce had she said 
These breathless words, when a voice deep and dread 
As that of Monker, waking up the dead 
From their first sleep — so startling 'twas to both — 
Rung through the casement near, "Thy oath! thy oath!" 
Oh Heav'n, the ghastliness of that Maid's look ! — 
" 'Tis he," faintly she cried, while terror shook 
Her inmost core, nor durst she lift her eyes, 
Though through the casement, now, nought but the skies 
And moonlight fields were seen, calm as before — 
" 'Tis he, and I am his — all, all is o'er — 
" Go — fly this instant, or thou'rt ruin'd too — 
" My oath, my oath, oh Grod ! 'tis all too true, 
" True as the worm in this cold heart it is — 
" I am Mokanna's bride — his, Azim, his — 
" The Dead stood round us, while I spoke that vow, 
" Their blue lips echo'd it — I hear them now ! 
" Their eyes glar'd on me, while I pledg'd that bowl, 
" 'Twas burning blood — I feel it in my soul ! 
" And the Veil'd Bridegroom — hist ! I've seen to-night 
" What angels know not of — so foul a sight, 




Scarce Ixad. she 'spa cL 
These "breathless -words, -when a ATOce deep and. dread 
As that of 1SC0KKEE. , -wakhig Tip the dead 
It am. their -first sleep _so 
Rixao fin-ran oh the caseraeart laear,'' Thy Oath! thy oath! " 



StarthiiP 'twas to "both 



The- VeCLea.Ii-0Fh.ee. 






THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 95 

" So horrible — oil ! never raay'st thou see 

" What there lies hid from all but hell and me ! 

" But I must hence — off, off — I am not thine, 

" Nor Heav'n's, nor Love's, nor aught that is divine — 

" Hold me not — ha ! think'st thou the fiends that sever 

" Hearts, cannot sunder hands ? — thus, then — for ever ! " 

With all that strength, which madness lends the weak, 
She flung away his arm ; and, with a shriek, 
Whose sound, though he should linger out more years 
Than wretch e'er told, can never leave his ears — 
Flew up through that long avenue of light, 
Fleetly as some dark, ominous bird of night, 
Across the sun, and soon was out of sight ! 



96 LALLA ROOKH. 



Lalla Rookh could think of nothing all day but the 
misery of these two young lovers. Her gaiety was 
gone, and she looked pensively even upon Fadladeej^. 
She felt, too, without knowing why, a sort of uneasy 
pleasure in imagining that Azim must have been just 
such a youth as Feramorz ; just as worthy to enjoy all 
the blessings, without any of the pangs, of that illusive 
passion, which too often, like the sunny apples of Ist- 
kahar*, is all sweetness on one side, and all bitterness 
on the other. 

As they passed along a sequestered river after sunset, 
they saw a young Hindoo girl upon the bank f , whose 
employment seemed to them so strange, that they stopped 
their palankeens to observe her. She had lighted a 
small lamp, filled with oil of cocoa, and placing it in 

* " In the territory of Istkahar there is a kind of apple, half of 
which is sweet and half sour." — JSbn Haukal. 

•j* For an account of this ceremony, see Grandpre's Voyage in 
the Indian Ocean. 



LALLA ROOKH. 97 



an earthen dish, adorned with a wreath of flowers, had 
committed it with a trembling hand to the stream ; and 
was now anxiously watching its progress down the 
current, heedless of the gay cavalcade which had drawn 
up beside her. Lalla Rookh was all curiosity ; — 
when one of her attendants, who had lived upon the 
banks of the Ganges, (where this ceremony is so frequent, 
that often, in the dusk of the evening, the river is seen 
glittering all over with lights, like the Oton-tala, or Sea of 
Stars*,) informed the Princess that it was the usual way, 
in which the friends of those who had gone on dangerous 
voyages offered up vows for their safe return. If the 
lamp sunk immediately, the omen was disastrous ; but 
if it went shining down the stream, and continued to 
burn till entirely out of sight, the return of the beloved 
object was considered as certain. 

Lalla Rookh, as they moved on, more than once 
looked back, to observe how the young Hindoo's lamp 

* " The place where the Whangho, a river of Tibet, rises, and 
where there are more than a hundred springs, which sparkle like 
stars ; whence it is called Hotun-nor, that is, the Sea of Stars." — 
Description of Tibet in Pinkerton. 



98 LALLA ROOKH. 



proceeded ; and, while she saw with pleasure that it was 
still unextinguished, she could not help fearing that all 
the hopes of this life were no better than that feeble 
light upon the river. The remainder of the journey- 
was passed in silence. She now, for the first time, felt 
that shade of melancholy, which comes over the youthful 
maiden's heart, as sweet and transient as her own breath 
upon a mirror ; nor was it till she heard the lute of 
Feramorz, touched lightly at the door of her pavilion, 
that she waked from the reverie in which she had been 
wandering. Instantly her eyes were lighted up with 
pleasure ; and, after a few unheard remarks from 
Fadladeen upon the indecorum of a poet seating 
himself in presence of a Princess, every thing was 
arranged as on the preceding evening, and all listened 
with eagerness, while the story was thus continued : — 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 99 



Whose are the gilded tents that crowd the way, 
Where all was waste and silent yesterday ? 
This City of War, which, in a few short hours, 
Hath sprung up here*, as if the magic powers 

* " The Lescar or Imperial Camp is divided, like a regular 
town, into squares, alleys, and streets, and from a rising ground 
furnishes one of the most agreeable prospects in the world. Start- 
ing up in a few hours in an uninhabited plain, it raises the idea of 
a city built by enchantment. Even those who leave their houses 
in cities to follow the prince in his progress are frequently so 
charmed with the Lescar, when situated in a beautiful and conve- 
nient place, that they cannot prevail with themselves to remove. 
To prevent this inconvenience to the court, the Emperor, after 
sufficient time is allowed to the tradesmen to follow, orders them 
to be burnt out of their tents." — Dow's Hindostan. 

Colonel Wilks gives a lively picture of an Eastern encampment : 
— " His camp, like that of most Indian armies, exhibited a motley 
collection of covers from the scorching sun and dews of the night, 
variegated according to the taste or means of each individual, by 
extensive inclosures of coloured calico surrounding superb suites 
of tents ; by ragged cloths or blankets stretched over sticks or 
branches ; palm leaves hastily spread over similar supports ; hand- 
some tents and splendid canopies ; horses, oxen, elephants, and 
camels ; all intermixed without any exterior mark of order or 
design, except the flags of the chiefs, which usually mark the 
centres of a congeries of these masses ; the only regular part of the 
encampment being the streets of shops, each of which is constructed 



100 LALLA ROOKH. 



Of Him who, in the twinkling of a star, 

Built the high pillar'd halls of Chilminar, * 

Had conjur'd up, far as the eye can see, 

This world of tents, and domes, and sun-bright armory: 

Princely pavilions, screen'd by many a fold 

Of crimson cloth, and topp'd with balls of gold : — 

Steeds, with their housings of rich silver spun, 

Their chains and poitrels glittering in the sun ; 

And camels, tufted o'er with Yemen's shells,! 

Shaking in every breeze their light-ton'd bells ! 

But yester-eve, so motionless around, 
So mute was this wide plain, that not a sound 
But the far torrent, or the locust bird J 
Hunting among the thickets, could be heard ; — 



nearly in the manner of a booth at an English fair. — Historical 
Sketches of the South of India. 

* The edifices of Chilminar and Balbec are supposed to have 
been built by the Genii, acting under the orders of Jan ben Jan, 
who governed the world long before the time of Adam. 

| "A superb camel, ornamented with strings and tufts of small 
shells."— Ali Bey. 

I A native of Khorassan, and allured southward by means of 
the water of a fountain between Shiraz and Ispahan, called the 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 101 

Yet hark ! what discords now, of every kind, 
Shouts, laughs, and screams are revelling in the wind ; 
The neigh of cavalry ; — the tinkling throngs 
Of laden camels and their drivers' songs; — * 
Ringing of arms, and flapping in the breeze 
Of streamers from ten thousand canopies ; — 
War-music, bursting out from time to time, 
With gong and tymbalon's tremendous chime ; — 
Or, in the pause, when harsher sounds are mute, 
The mellow breathings of some horn or flute, 
That far off, broken by the eagle note 
Of the' Abyssinian trumpet f, swell and float. 

Fountain of Birds, of which it is so fond that it will follow where- 
ever that water is carried. 

* " Some of the camels have bells about their necks, and some 
about their legs, like those which our carriers put about their fore- 
horses' necks, which together with the servants (who belong to the 
camels, and travel on foot,) singing all night, make a pleasant 
noise, and the journey passes away delightfully." — Pitt's, Account 
of the Mahometans. 

" The camel-driver follows the camels singing, and sometimes 
playing upon his pipe ; the louder he sings and pipes, the faster the 
camels go. Nay, they will stand still when he gives over his 
music." — Tavernier. 

■f " This trumpet is often called, in Abyssinia, nesser cano, which 
signifies the Note of the Eagle." — Note of Bruce 's Editor. 



102 LALLA ROOKH. 



Who leads this mighty army? — ask ye " who?" 
And mark ye not those banners of dark hue, 
The Night and Shadow *, over yonder tent ? — 
It is the Caliph's glorious armament. 
Rous'd in his Palace by the dread alarms, 
That hourly came, of the false Prophet's arms, 
And of his host of infidels, who hurl'd 
Defiance fierce at Islam f and the world, — 
Though worn with Grecian warfare, and behind 
The veils of his bright Palace calm reclin'd, 
Yet brook'd he not such blasphemy should stain, 
Thus unreveng'd, the evening of his reign ; 
But, having sworn upon the Holy Grave J 
To conquer or to perish, once more gave 
His shadowy banners proudly to the breeze, 
And with an army, nurs'd in victories, 

* The two black standards borne before the Caliphs of the 
House of Abbas were called, allegorically, The Night and The 
Shadow. — See Gibbon. 

| The Mahometan religion. 

I " The Persians swear by the Tomb of Shah Besade, who is 
buried at Casbin ; and when one desires another to asseverate a 
matter, he will ask him, if he dare swear by the Holy Grave." — 
Struy. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 103 

Here stands to crush the rebels that o'er-run 
His blest and beauteous Province of the Sun. 

Ne'er did the inarch of Mahadi display 
Such pomp before; — not ev'n when on his way 
To Mecca's Temple, when both land and sea 
Were spoil'd to feed the Pilgrim's luxury ; * 
When round him, 'mid the burning sands, he saw 
Fruits of the North in icy freshness thaw, 
And cool'd his thirsty lip, beneath the glow 
Of Mecca's sun, with urns of Persian snow : — f 
Nor e'er did armament more grand than that 
Pour from the kingdoms of the Caliphat. 
First, in the van, the People of the Rock, J 
On their light mountain steeds, of royal stock : § 



* Mahadi, in a single pilgrimage to Mecca, expended six millions 
of dinars of gold. 

f Nivem Meccam apportavit, rem ibi aut nunquam aut raro 
visam. — Abnlfeda. 

| The inhabitants of Hejaz or Arabia Petrsea, called by an 
Eastern writer "The People of the Rock." — Ebn Haukal. 

§ " Those horses, called by the Arabians Kochlani, of whom a 
written genealogy has been kept for 2000 years. They are said to 
derive their origin from King Solomon's steeds." — Niebuhr. 



104 LALLA ROOKH. 



Then, chieftains of Damascus, proud to see 
The flashing of their swords' rich marquetry ; — * 
Men, from the regions near the Volga's mouth, 
Mix'd with the rude, black archers of the South ; 
And Indian lancers, in white-turban'd ranks, 
From the far Sinde, or Attock's sacred banks, 
With dusky legions from the Land of Myrrh, f 
And many a mace-arm'd Moor and Mid-sea islander. 

Nor less in number, though more new and rude 
In warfare's school, was the vast multitude 
That, fir'd by zeal, or by oppression wrong'd, 
Round the white standard of the' impostor throng'd. 
Beside his thousands of Believers — blind, 
Burning and headlong as the Samiel wind — ■ 
Many who felt, and more who fear'd to feel 
The bloody Islamite's converting steel, 



* " Many of the figures on the blades of their swords are 
wrought in gold or silver, or in marquetry with small gems." — 
Asiat. Misc. v. i. 

f Azab or Saba, 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 105 

Flock'd to his banner ; — Chiefs of the' Uzbek race, 
Waving their heron crests with martial grace ; * 
Turkomans, countless as their flocks, led forth 
From the' aromatic pastures of the North ; 
Wild warriors of the turquoise hills f, — and those 
Who dwell beyond the everlasting snows 
Of Hindoo Kosh J, in stormy freedom bred, 
Their fort the rock, their camp the torrent's bed. 
But none, of all who own'd the Chief's command, 
Rush'd to that battle-field with bolder hand, 
Or sterner hate, than Iran's outlaw'd men, 
Her Worshippers of Fire § — all panting then 
For vengeance on the' accursed Saracen ; 
Vengeance at last for their dear country spurn'd, 
Her throne usurp'd, and her bright shrines o'erturn'd. 



* " The chiefs of the Uzbek Tartars wear a plume of white he- 
ron's feathers in their turbans." — Account of Independent Tartary. 

•f" In the mountains of JSTishapour and Tous (in Khorassan) they 
find turquoises. — Ebn Haukal. 

% For a description of these stupendous ranges of mountains, 
see Elphinstone's Caubul. 

§ The Ghebers or Guebres, those original natives of Persia, who 
adhered to their ancient faith, the religion of Zoroaster, and who, 



106 LALLA ROOKH. 



From Yezd's * eternal Mansion of the Fire, 
Where aged saints in dreams of Heav'n expire : 
From Badku, and those fountains of blue flame 
That burn into the Caspian f, fierce they came, 
Careless for what or whom the blow was sped, 
So vengeance triumph'd, and their tyrants bled. 

Such was the wild and miscellaneous host, 
That high in air their motley banners tost 
Around the Prophet-Chief — all eyes still bent 
Upon that glittering Veil, where'er it went, 
That beacon through the battle's stormy flood, 
That rainbow of the field, whose showers were blood ! 

after the conquest of their country by the Arabs, were either per- 
secuted at home, or forced to become wanderers abroad. 

* " Yezd, the chief residence of those ancient natives, who wor- 
ship the Sun and the Fire, which latter they have carefully kept 
lighted, without being once extinguished for a moment, about 3000 
years, on a mountain near Yezd, called Ater Quedah, signifying 
the House or Mansion of the Fire. He is reckoned very unfortu- 
nate who dies off that mountain. — Stephens Persia. 

•j* " When the weather is hazy, the springs of Naphtha (on an 
island near Baku) boil up the higher, and the Naphtha often takes 
fire on the surface of the earth, and runs in a flame into the sea to 
a distance almost incredible." — Hanivay on the Everlasting Fire at 
Baku. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 107 

Twice hath the sun upon their conflict set, 
And risen again, and found them grappling yet ; 
While streams of carnage, in his noontide blaze, 
Smoke up to Heav'n — hot as that crimson haze, 
By which the prostrate Caravan is aw'd,* 
In the red Desert, when the wind's abroad. 
" On, Swords of God ! " the panting Caliph calls, — 
" Thrones for the living — Heav'n for him who falls ! " — 
" On, brave avengers, on," Mokanna cries, 
" And Eblis blast the recreant slave that flies ! " 
Now comes the brunt, the crisis of the day — 
They clash — they strive — the Caliph's troops give 

way ! 
Mokanna's self plucks the black Banner down, 
And now the Orient World's Imperial crown 
Is just within his grasp — when, hark, that shout ! 
Some hand hath check'd the flying Moslem's rout ; 

* Savary says of the south wind, which blows in Egypt from 
February to May, " Sometimes it appears only in the shape of an 
impetuous whirlwind, which passes rapidly, and is fatal to the tra- 
veller, surprised in the middle of the deserts. Torrents of burnino- 
sand roll before it, the firmament is enveloped in a thick veil, and 
the sun appears of the colour of blood. Sometimes whole caravans 
are buried in it." 



108 LALLA ROOKH. 



And now they turn, they rally — at their head 

A warrior, (like those angel youths who led, 

In glorious panoply of Heav'n's own mail, 

The Champions of the Faith through Beder's vale,*) 

Bold as if gifted with ten thousand lives, 

Turns on the fierce pursuers' blades, and drives 

At once the multitudinous torrent back — 

While hope and courage kindle in his track ; 

And, at each step, his bloody falchion makes 

Terrible vistas through which victory breaks ! 

In vain Mokanna, midst the general flight, 
Stands, like the red moon, on some stormy night, 

Among the fugitive clouds that, hurrying by, 

Leave only her unshaken in the sky — 

In vain he yells his desperate curses out, 

Deals death promiscuously to all about, 

To foes that charge and coward friends that fly, 

And seems of all the Great Arch-enemy. 



* In the great victory gained by Mahomed at Beder, he was 
assisted, say the Mussulmans, by three thousand angels, led by 
Gabriel, mounted on his horse Hiazum. — See The Koran audits 
Commentators. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 109 

The panic spreads — "A miracle ! " throughout 
The Moslem ranks, " a miracle ! " they shout, 
All gazing on that youth, whose coming seems 
A light, a glory, such as breaks in dreams ; 
And every sword, true as o'er billows dim 
The needle tracks the load-star, following him ! 

Right tow'rds Mokantna now he cleaves his path, 
Impatient cleaves, as though the bolt of wrath 
He bears from Heav'n withheld its awful burst 
From weaker heads, and souls but half way curst, 
To break o'er Him, the mightiest and the worst ! 
But vain his speed — though, in that hour of blood, 
Had all God's seraphs round Mokai^^a stood, 
With swords of fire, ready like fate to fall, 
Mokakna's soul would have defied them all ; 
Yet now, the rush of fugitives, too strong 
For human force, hurries ev'n him along ; 
In vain he struggles 'mid the wedg'd array 
Of flying thousands — he is borne away ; 
And the sole joy his baffled spirit knows, 
In this forc'd flight, is — murdering as he goes ! 



110 LALLA ROOKH. 



As a grim tiger, whom the torrent's might 
Surprizes in some parch'd ravine at night, 
Turns, ev'n in drowning, on the wretched flocks, 
Swept with him in that snow-flood from the rocks, 
And, to the last, devouring on his way, 
Bloodies the stream he hath not power to stay. 

" Alia ilia Alia!" — the glad shout renew — 
" Alia Akbar!"* — the Caliph's in Mekou. 
Hang out your gilded tapestry in the streets, 
And light your shrines and chaunt your ziraleets. f 
The Swords of God have triumph'd — on his throne 
Your Caliph sits, and the veil'd Chief hath flown. 
Who does not envy that young warrior now, 
To whom the Lord of Islam bends his brow, 
In all the graceful gratitude of power, 
For his throne's safety in that perilous hour ? 



* The Tecbir, or cry of the Arabs. " Alia Acbar ! " says 
Ockley, means " God is most mighty." 

f The ziraleet is a kind of chorus, which the women of the East 
sing upon joyful occasions. — Russel. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. Ill 

Who doth not wonder, when, amidst the' acclaim 
Of thousands, heralding to heav'n his name — 
'Mid all those holier harmonies of fame, 
Which sound along the path of virtuous souls, 
Like music round a planet as it rolls, — 
He turns away — coldly, as if some gloom 
Hung o'er his heart no triumphs can illume ; — 
Some sightless grief, upon whose blasted gaze 
Though glory's light may play, in vain it plays. 
Yes, wretched Azim ! thine is such a grief, 
Beyond all hope, all terror, all relief; 
A dark, cold calm, which nothing now can break, 
Or warm or brighten, — like that Syrian Lake, * 
Upon whose surface morn and summer shed 
Their smiles in vain, for all beneath is dead ! — 
Hearts there have been, o'er which this weight of woe 
Came by long use of suffering, tame and slow ; 
But thine, lost youth ! was sudden — over thee 
It broke at once, when all seem'd ecstasy ; 



* The Dead Sea, which contains neither animal nor vegetable 
life. 



112 LALLA ROOKH. 



When Hope look'd up, and saw the gloomy Past 
Melt into splendour, and Bliss dawn at last — 
'Twas then, ev'n then, o'er joys so freshly blown, 
This mortal blight of misery came down ; 
Ev'n then, the full, warm gushings of thy heart 
Were check'd — like fount-drops, frozen as they start - 
And there, like them, cold, sunless relics hang, 
Each fix'd and chilFd into a lasting pang. 

One sole desire, one passion now remains 
To keep life's fever still within his veins, 
Vengeance ! — dire vengeance on the wretch who cast 
O'er him and all he lov'd that ruinous blast. 
For this, when rumours reach'd him in his flight 
Ear, far away, after that fatal night, — 
Rumours of armies, thronging to the' attack 
Of the Veil'd Chief, — for this he wing'd him back, 
Fleet as the vulture speeds to flags unfurl'd, 
And, when all hope seem'd desperate, wildly hurl'd 
Himself into the scale, and sav'd a world. 
For this he still lives on, careless of all 
The wreaths that Glory on his path lets fall ; 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 113 

For this alone exists — like lightning-fire, 
To speed one bolt of vengeance, and expire ! 

But safe as yet that Spirit of Evil lives ; 
With a small band of desperate fugitives, 
The last sole stubborn fragment, left unriven, 
Of the proud host that late stood fronting Heaven, 
He gain'd Merou — breath'd a short curse of blood 
O'er his lost throne — then pass'd the Jraox's flood,* 
And gathering all, whose madness of belief 
Still saw a Saviour in their clown-falTn Chief, 
Rais'd the white banner within Neksheb's gates, f 
And there, untam'd, the' approaching conqu'ror waits. 

Of all his Haram, all that busy hive, 
With music and with sweets sparkling alive, 
He took but one, the partner of his flight, 
One — not for love — not for her beauty's light — 
No, Zelica stood withering midst the gay, 
Wan as the blossom that fell yesterday 

* The ancient Oxus. f A city of Transoxiania. 



114 LALLA ROOKH. 



From the' Alma tree and dies, while overhead 

To-day's young flower is springing in its stead. * 

Oh, not for love — the deepest Damn'd must be 

Touch'd with Heaven's glory, ere such fiends as he 

Can feel one glimpse of Love's divinity. 

But no, she is his victim ; — there lie all 

Her charms for him — charms that can never pall, 

As long as hell within his heart can stir, 

Or one faint trace of Heaven is left in her. 

To work an angel's ruin, — to behold 

As white a page as Virtue e'er unroll'd 

Blacken, beneath his touch, into a scroll 

Of damning sins, seal'd with a burning soul — 

This is his triumph ; this the joy accurst, 

That ranks him among demons all but first : 

This gives the victim, that before him lies 

Blighted and lost, a glory in his eyes, 



* " You never can cast your eyes on this tree, but you meet 
there either blossoms or fruit; and as the blossom drops under- 
neath on the ground (which is frequently covered with these 
purple-coloured flowers), others come forth in their stead," &c. &c. 
— Nieuhoff. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 115 

A light like that with which hell-fire illumes 
The ghastly, writhing wretch whom it consumes ! 

But other tasks now wait him — tasks that need 
All the deep daringness of thought and deed 
With which the Dives * have gifted him — for mark, 
Over yon plains, which night had else made dark, 
Those lanterns, countless as the winged lights 
That spangle India's fields on showery nights, — f 
Far as their formidable gleams they shed, 
The mighty tents of the beleaguerer spread, 
Glimmering along the' horizon's dusky line, 
And thence in nearer circles, till they shine 
Among the founts and groves, o'er which the town 
In all its arm'd magnificence looks down. 
Yet, fearless, from his lofty battlements 
Mokanna views that multitude of tents ; 
Nay, smiles to think that, though entoil'd, beset, 
Not less than myriads dare to front him yet ; — 



* The Demons of the Persian mythology. 

f Carreri mentions the fire-flies in India during the rainy season. 

-See his Travels. 



116 LALLA ROOKH. 



That friendless, throneless, he thus stands at bay, 

Ev'n thus a match for myriads such as they. 

" Oh, for a sweep of that dark Angel's wing, 

" Who brush'd the thousands of the' Assyrian King * 

" To darkness in a moment, that I might 

" People Hell's chambers with yon host to-night ! 

" But, come what may, let who will grasp the throne, 

" Caliph or Prophet, Man alike shall groan ; 

" Let who will torture him, Priest — Caliph — King — 

" Alike this loathsome world of his shall ring 

" With victims' shrieks, and howlings of the slave, — 

" Sounds, that shall glad me ev'n within my grave ! " 

Thus, to himself — but to the scanty train 

Still left around him, a far different strain : — 

" Glorious Defenders of the sacred Crown 

" I bear from Heav'n, whose light nor blood shall 

drown 
" Nor shadow of earth eclipse; — before whose gems 
" The paly pomp of this world's diadems, 



* Sennacherib, called by the Orientals King of Moussal.- 
D'Herbelot. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 117 

" The crown of Gerashid, the pillar'd throne 

" Of Parviz *, and the heron crest that shone, f 

" Magnificent, o'er Ali's beauteous eyes, J 

" Fade like the stars when morn is in the skies : 

" Warriors, rejoice — the port to which we've pass'd 

" O'er Destiny's dark wave, beams out at last ! 

" Victory's our own — 'tis written in that Book 

" Upon whose leaves none but the angels look, 

" That Islam's sceptre shall beneath the power 

" Of her great foe fall broken in that hour, 

" When the moon's mighty orb, before all eyes, 

" From Neksheb's Holy Well portentously shall rise ! 

* Chosroes. For the description of his Throne or Palace, see 
Gibbon and D'Herbelot. 

There were said to be under this Throne or Palace of Khosrou 
Parviz a hundred vaults filled with " treasures so immense that 
some Mahometan writers tell us, their Prophet, to encourage his 
disciples, carried them to a rock, which at his command opened, 
and gave them a prospect through it of the treasures of Khosrou." 
— Universal History. 

•j" " The crown of Gerashid is cloudy and tarnished before the 
heron tuft of thy turban." — From one of the elegies or songs in 
praise of Ali, written in characters of gold round the gallery of 
Abbas' s tomb. — See Chardin. 

\ The beauty of Ali's eyes was so remarkable, that whenever the 
Persians would describe any thing as very lovely, they say it is Ayn 
Hali, or the Eyes of Ali. — Chardin. 



118 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Now turn and see ! " 



They turn'd, and, as he spoke, 
A sudden splendour all around them broke, 
And they beheld an orb, ample and bright, 
Rise from the Holy Well *, and cast its light 
Round the rich city and the plain for miles, — f 
Flinging such radiance o'er the gilded tiles 
Of many a dome and fair-roof 'd imaret 
As autumn suns shed round them when they set. 
Instant from all who saw the' illusive sign 
A murmur broke — " Miraculous ! divine ! " 
The Gheber bow'd, thinking his idol star 
Had wak'd, and burst impatient through the bar 
Of midnight, to inflame him to the war ; 



* We are not told more of this trick of the Impostor, than that 
it was " une machine, qu'il disoit etre la Lune." According to 
Richardson, the miracle is perpetuated in Nekscheb. — " Nakshab, 
the name of a city in Transoxiania, where they say there is a well, 
in which the appearance of the moon is to be seen night and day." 

•j- " II amusa pendant deux mois le peuple de la ville de Nekhs- 
cheb, en faisant sortir toutes les nuits du fond d'un puits un corps 
lumineux semblable a Lune, qui portoit sa lumiere jusqu'a la dis- 
tance de plusieurs milles." — D'Herbelot. Hence he was called 
Sazendehmah, or the Moon-maker. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 119 

While he of Moussa's creed saw, in that ray, 
The glorious Light which, in his freedom's day, 
Had rested on the Ark *, and now again 
Shone out to bless the breaking of his chain. 

" To victory ! " is at once the cry of all — 
Nor stands Mokanna loitering at that call ; 
But instant the huge gates are flung aside, 
And forth, like a diminutive mountain-tide 
Into the boundless sea, they speed their course 
Right on into the Moslem's mighty force. 
The watchmen of the camp, — who, in their rounds, 
Had paus'd, and ev'n forgot the punctual sounds 
Of the small drum with which they count the night, f 
To gaze upon that supernatural light, — 
Now sink beneath an unexpected arm, 
And in a death-groan give their last alarm. 



* The Shechitiah, called Sakinat in the Koran. — See Sales Note, 
chap. ii. 

f The parts of the night are made known as well by instruments 
of music, as by the rounds of the watchmen with cries and small 
drums. — See Burders Oriental Customs, vol. i. p. 119. 



120 LALLA ROOKH. 



" On for the lamps, that light yon lofty screen,* 

" Nor blunt your blades with massacre so mean ; 

" There rests the Caliph — speed — one lucky lance 

" May now achieve mankind's deliverance." 

Desperate the die — such as they only cast, 

Who venture for a world, and stake their last. 

But Fate's no longer with him— blade for blade 

Springs up to meet them through the glimmering shade, 

And, as the clash is heard, new legions soon 

Pour to the spot, like bees of Kauzekoon f 

To the shrill timbrel's summons, — till, at length, 

The mighty camp swarms out in all its strength, 

And back to Neksheb's gates, covering the plain 

With random slaughter, drives the' adventurous train ; 



* The Serrapurda, high screens of red cloth, stiffened with cane, 
used to enclose a considerable space round the royal tents. — Notes 
on the Bahardanush. 

The tents of Princes were generally illuminated. Norden tells 
us that the tent of the Bey of Girge was distinguished from the 
other tents by forty lanterns being suspended before it. — See 
Harmer's Observations on Job. 

•j* " From the groves of orange trees at Kauzeroon the bees cull 
a celebrated honey." — Mower's Travels. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 121 



Among; the last of whom the Silver Veil 
Is seen glittering at times, like the white sail 
Of some toss'd vessel, on a stormy night, 
Catching the tempest's momentary light ! 

And hath not this brought the proud spirit low ? 
Nor dash'd his brow, nor check'd his daring ? No. 
Though half the wretches, whom at night he led 
To thrones and victory, lie disgrac'd and dead, 
Yet morning hears him, with unshrinking crest, 
Still vaunt of thrones, and victory to the rest ; — 
And they believe him ! — oh, the lover may 
Distrust that look which steals his soul away ; — 
The babe may cease to think that it can play 
With Heaven's rainbow ; — alchymists may doubt 
The shining gold their crucible gives out ; 
But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast 
To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last. 

And well the' Impostor knew all lures and arts, 
That Lucifer e'er taught to tangle hearts ; 



122 LALLA ROOKH. 



Nor, mid these last bold workings of his plot 

Against men's souls, is Zelica forgot. 

Ill-fated Zelica ! had reason been 

Awake, through half the horrors thou hast seen, 

Thou never couldst have borne it — Death had come 

At once, and taken thy wrung spirit home. 

But 'twas not so — a torpor, a suspense 

Of thought, almost of life, came o'er the' intense 

And passionate struggles of that fearful night, 

When her last hope of peace and heav'n took flight : 

And though, at times, a gleam of frenzy broke, — 

As through some dull volcano's veil of smoke 

Ominous flashings now and then will start, 

Which show the fire's still busy at its heart ; 

Yet was she mostly wrapp'd in solemn gloom, — 

Not such as Azim's, brooding o'er its doom, 

And calm without, as is the brow of death, 

While busy worms are gnawing underneath, — 

But in a blank and pulseless torpor, free 

From thought or pain, a seal'd-up apathy, 

Which left her oft, with scarce one living thrill, 

The cold, pale victim of her torturer's will. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 123 

Again, as in Merou, he had her deck'd 
Gorgeously out, the Priestess of the sect ; 
And led her glittering forth before the eyes 
Of his rude train, as to a sacrifice, — 
Pallid as she, the young, devoted Bride 
Of the fierce Nile, when, deck'd in all the pride 
Of nuptial pomp, she sinks into his tide. * 
And while the wretched maid hung down her head, 
And stood, as one just risen from the dead, 
Amid that gazing crowd, the fiend would tell 
His credulous slaves it was some charm or spell 
Possess'd her now, — and from that darken'd trance 
Should dawn ere long their Faith's deliverance. 
Or if, at times, goaded by guilty shame, 
Her soul was rous'd, and words of wildness came, 
Instant the bold blasphemer would translate 
Her ravings into oracles of fate, 



* " A custom still subsisting at this day, seems to me to prove 
that the Egyptians formerly sacrificed a young virgin to the God 
of the Xile ; for they now make a statue of earth in shape of a girl, 
to which they give the name of the Betrothed Bride, and throw it 
into the river." — Savary. 



124 LALLA ROOKH. 



Would hail Heav'n's signals in her flashing eyes, 
And call her shrieks the language of the skies ! 

But vain at length his arts — despair is seen 
Gathering around ; and famine comes to glean 
All that the sword had left unreap'd: — in vain 
At morn and eve across the northern plain 
He looks impatient for the promis'd spears 
Of the wild Hordes and Tartar mountaineers ; 
They come not — while his fierce beleaguerers pour 
Engines of havoc in, unknown before, * 

* That they knew the secret of the Greek fire among the Mus- 
sulmans early in the eleventh century, appears from Dow's Account 
of Mamood I. " When he arrived at Moultan, finding that the 
country of the Jits was defended by great rivers, he ordered fifteen 
hundred boats to be built, each of which he armed with six iron 
spikes, projecting from their prows and sides, to prevent their 
being boarded by the enemy, who were very expert in that kind 
of war. When he had launched this fleet, he ordered twenty 
archers into each boat, and five others with fire-balls, to burn the 
craft of the Jits, and naphtha to set the whole river on fire." 

The agnee aster, too, in Indian poems the Instrument of Fire, 
whose flame cannot be extinguished, is supposed to signify the 
Greek Fire. — See Wilks's South of India, vol. i. p. 471. — And in 
the curious Javan poem, the Brata Yudha, given by Sir Stamford 
Raffles in his History of Java, we find, " He aimed at the heart of 
Soeta with the sharp-pointed Weapon of Fire." 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 125 

And horrible as new * ; — javelins, that fly 
Enwreath'd with smoky flames through the dark sky, 
And red-hot globes, that, opening as they mount, 
Discharge, as from a kindled Naphtha fount, f 



The mention of gunpowder as in use among the Arabians, long 
before its supposed discovery in Europe, is introduced by Ebn 
Fadhl, the Egyptian geographer, who lived in the thirteenth cen- 
tury. " Bodies," he says, " in the form of scorpions, bound round 
and filled with nitrous powder, glide along, making a gentle noise ; 
then, exploding, they lighten, as it were, and burn. But there are 
others which, cast into the air, stretch along like a cloud, roaring 
horribly, as thunder roars, and on all sides vomiting out flames, 
burst, burn, and reduce to cinders whatever comes in their way." 
The historian Ben Abdalla, in speaking of the sieges of Abulualid 
in the year of the Hegira 712, says, " A fiery globe, by means of 
combustible matter, with a mighty noise suddenly emitted, strikes 
with the force of lightning, and shakes the citadel." — See the ex- 
tracts from Casirfs Biblioth. Arab. Hispan. in the Appendix to 
Beringtojis Literary History of the Middle Ages. 

* The Greek fire, which was occasionally lent by the emperors 
to their allies. " It was," says Gibbon, " either launched in red- 
hot balls of stone and iron, or darted in arrows and javelins, twisted 
round with flax and tow, which had deeply imbibed the inflammable 
oil." 

t See Hanway's Account of the Springs of Naphtha at Baku 
(which is called by Lieutenant Pottinger Joala Mookee, or, the 
Flaming Mouth,) taking fire and running into the sea. Dr. Cooke, 
in his Journal, mentions some wells in Circassia, strongly impreg- 
nated with this inflammable oil, from which issues boiling water. 
" Though the weather," he adds, " was now very cold, the warmth 



126 LALLA ROOKH. 



Showers of consuming fire o'er all below ; 
Looking, as through the' illumin'd night they go, 
Like those wild birds * that by the Magians oft, 
At festivals of fire, were sent aloft 
Into the air, with blazing faggots tied 
To their huge wings, scattering combustion wide. 
All night the groans of wretches who expire, 
In agony, beneath these darts of fire, 
Bing through the city — while, descending o'er 
Its shrines and domes and streets of sycamore, — 
Its lone bazaars, with their bright cloths of gold, 
Since the last peaceful pageant left unroll'd, — 

of these wells of hot water produced near them the verdure and 
flowers of spring." 

Major Scott Waring says, that naphtha is used by the Persians, 
as we are told it was in hell, for lamps. 

many a row 

Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed 
With naphtha and asphaltus, yielding light 
As from a sky. 

* " At the great festival of fire, called the Sheb Seze, they used 
to set fire to large bunches of dry combustibles, fastened round 
wild beasts and birds, which being then let loose, the air and earth 
appeared one great illumination ; and as these terrified creatures 
naturally fled to the woods for shelter, it is easy to conceive the 
conflagrations they produced." — Richardson's Dissertation. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 127 

Its beauteous marble baths, whose idle jets 
Now gush with blood, — and its tall minarets, 
That late have stood up in the evening glare 
Of the red sun, unhallow'd by a prayer ; — 
O'er each, in turn, the dreadful flame-bolts fall, 
And death and conflagration throughout all 
The desolate city hold high festival ! 

Mokanna sees the world is his no more ; — 
One sting at parting, and his grasp is o'er. 
" What ! drooping now ? " — thus, with unblushing cheek, 
He hails the few, who yet can hear him speak, 
Of all those famish'd slaves around him lying, 
And by the light of blazing temples dying ; — 
" What ! — drooping now ? — now, when at length we press 
" Home o'er the very threshold of success ; 
" When All A from our ranks hath thinn'd away 
" Those grosser branches, that kept out his ray 
" Of favour from us, and we stand at length 
" Heirs of his light and children of his strength, 
" The chosen few, who shall survive the fall 
" Of Kings and Thrones, triumphant over all ! 



128 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Have you then lost, weak murmurers as you are, 

" All faith in him, who was your Light, your Star ? 

" Have you forgot the eye of glory, hid 

" Beneath this Veil, the flashing of whose lid 

" Could, like a sun-stroke of the desert, wither 

(( Millions of such as yonder Chief brings hither ? 

" Long have its lightnings slept — too long — but now 

" All earth shall feel the' unveiling of this brow ! 

" To-night — yes, sainted men! this very night, 

" I bid you all to a fair festal rite, 

" Where — having deep refresh'd each weary limb 

" With viands, such as feast Heaven's cherubim, 

" And kindled up your souls, now sunk and dim, 

" With that pure wine the Dark-ey'd Maids above 

" Keep, seal'd with precious musk, for those they love, — * 

" I will myself uncurtain in your sight 

" The wonders of this brow's ineffable light ; 

" Then lead you forth, and with a wink disperse 

" Yon myriads, howling through the universe ! " 



* " The righteous shall be given to drink of pure wine, sealed ; 
the seal whereof shall be musk." — Koran, chap. Ixxxiii. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 129 

Eager they listen — while each accent darts 
New life into their chill'd and hope-sick hearts ; 
Such treacherous life as the cool draught supplies 
To him upon the stake, who drinks and dies ! 
Wildly they point their lances to the light 
Of the fast sinking sun, and shout " To-night !" — 
" To-night/' their Chief re-echoes in a voice 
Of fiend-like mockery that bids hell rejoice. 
Deluded victims ! — never hath this earth 
See*n mourning half so mournful as their mirth. 
Here, to the few, whose iron frames had stood 
This racking waste of famine and of blood, 
Faint, dying wretches clung, from whom the shout 
Of triumph like a maniac's laugh broke out : — 
There, others, lighted by the smouldering fire, 
Danc'd, like wan ghosts about a funeral pyre, 
Among the dead and dying, strew'd around ; — 
While some pale wretch look'd on, and from his wound 
Plucking the fiery dart by which he bled, 
In ghastly transport wav'd it o'er his head ! 



130 LALLA ROOKH. 



'Twas more than midnight now — a fearful pause 
Had follow'd the long shouts, the wild applause, 
That lately from those Royal Gardens burst, 
Where the Yeil'd demon held his feast accurst, 
When Zelica — alas, poor ruin'd heart, 
In every horror doom'd to bear its part ! — 
Was bidden to the banquet by a slave, 
Who, while his quivering lip the summons gave, 
Grew black, as though the shadows of the grave 
Corapass'dliim round, and, ere he could repeat 
His message through, fell lifeless at her feet ! 
Shuddering she went — a soul-felt pang of fear, 
A presage that her own dark doom was near, 
Rous'd every feeling, and brought Reason back 
Once more, to writhe her last upon the rack. 
All round seem'd tranquil — even the foe had ceas'd, 
As if aware of that demoniac feast, 
His fiery bolts ; and though the heavens look'd red, 
'Twas but some distant conflagration's spread. 
But hark — she stops — she listens — dreadful tone ! 
'Tis her Tormentor's laugh — and now, a groan, 




But, haxlv! — slie stops — slie listens —dreadful Win 



Zondtm.. , ■ ■ 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 131 

A long death-groan comes with it: — can this be 

The place of mirth, the bower of revelry ? 

She enters — Holy Alla, what a sight 

Was there before her ! By the glimmering light 

Of the pale dawn, mix'd with the flare of brands 

That round lay burning, dropp'd from lifeless hands, 

She saw the board, in splendid mockery spread, 

Rich censers breathing — garlands overhead — 

The urns, the cups, from which they late had quaff'd, 

All gold and gems, but — what had been the draught? 

Oh ! who need ask, that saw those livid guests, 

With their swoll'n heads sunk blackening on their breasts, 

Or looking pale to Heaven with glassy glare, 

As if they sought but saw no mercy there ; 

As if they felt, though poison rack'd them through, 

Remorse the deadlier torment of the two ! 

While some, the bravest, hardiest in the train 

Of their false Chief, who on the battle-plain 

Would have met death with transport by his side, 

Here mute and helpless gasp'd; — but, as they died, 

Look'd horrible vengeance with their eyes' last strain, 

And clench'd the slackening hand at him in vain. 



132 LALLA ROOKH. 



Dreadful it was to see the ghastly stare, 
The stony look of horror and despair, 
Which some of these expiring victims cast 
Upon their souls' tormentor to the last ; — 
Upon that mocking Fiend, whose Veil, now rais'd, 
Show'd them, as in death's agony they gaz'd, 
Not the long promis'd light, the brow, whose beaming 
Was to come forth, all conquering, all redeeming, 
But features horribler than Hell e'er trac'd 
On its own brood ; — no Demon of the Waste,* 
No church-yard Ghole, caught lingering in the light 
Of the blest sun, e'er blasted human sight 
With lineaments so foul, so fierce as those 
The' Impostor now, in grinning mockery, shows : — 
" There, ye wise Saints, behold your Light, your Star — 
" Ye would be dupes and victims, and ye are. 
i( Is it enough ? or must I, while a thrill 
" Lives in your sapient bosoms, cheat you still ? 

* " The Afghauns believe each of the numerous solitudes and 
deserts of their country to be inhabited by a lonely demon, whom 
they call the Ghoolee Beeabau, or Spirit of the Waste. They often 
illustrate the wildness of any sequestered tribe, by saying, they are 
wild as the Demon of the Waste." — Elphinstone's Caubul. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 133 

" Swear that the burning death ye feel within 

" Is but the trance with which Heaven's joys begin ; 

" That this foul visage, foul as e'er disgrac'd 

" Ev'n monstrous man, is — after God's own taste; 

" And that — but see ! — ere I have half-way said 

« My greetings through, the' uncourteous souls are fled. 

" Farewell, sweet spirits ! not in vain ye die, 

" If Eblis loves you half so well as I. — 

" Ha, my young bride ! — 'tis well — take thou thy seat ; 

" Nay come — no shuddering — didst thou never meet 

" The Dead before? — they grac'd our wedding, sweet; 

" And these, my guests to-night, have brimm'd so true 

" Their parting cups, that thou shalt pledge one too. 

" But — how is this? — all empty? all drunk up? 

" Hot lips have been before thee in the cup, 

' ' Young bride, — yet stay — one precious drop remains, 

" Enough to warm a gentle Priestess' veins ; — 

" Here, drink — and should thy lover's conquering arms 

" Speed hither, ere thy lip lose all its charms, 

" Give him but half this venom in thy kiss, 

" And I'll forgive my haughty rival's bliss ! 



134 LALLA ROOKH. 

" For me — I too must die — but not like these 
" Vile, rankling things, to fester in the breeze ; 
" To have this brow in ruffian triumph shown, 
" With all death's grimness added to its own, 
" And rot to dust beneath the taunting eyes 
" Of slaves, exclaiming, 6 There his Godship lies ! ' 
" No — cursed race — since first my soul drew breath, 
" They've been my dupes, and shall be ev'n in death. 
" Thou see'st yon cistern in the shade — 'tis fill'd 
" With burning drugs, for this last hour distill'd : — * 
" There will I plunge me, in that liquid flame — 
" Fit bath to lave a dying Prophet's frame ! — 
" There perish, all — ere pulse of thine shall fail — 
" Nor leave one limb to tell mankind the tale. 
" So shall my votaries, wheresoe'er they rave, 
" Proclaim that Heaven took back the Saint it gave ; — 
" That I've but vanish'd from this earth awhile, 
" To come again, with bright, unshrouded smile ! 

* " II donna du poison dans le vin a tous ses gens, et se jetta lui- 
meme ensnite dans une cuve pleine de drogues brulantes et con- 
sumantes, afin qu'il ne restat rien de tous les membres de son corps, 
et que ceux qui restoient de sa secte puissent croire qu'il etoit 
nionte au ciel, ce qui ne manqua pas d'arriver." — U Herbelot. 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 135 

" So shall they build ine altars in their zeal, 

" Where knaves shall minister, and fools shall kneel ; 

" Where Faith may mutter o'er her mystic spell, 

" Written in blood — and Bigotry may swell 

" The sail he spreads for Heaven with blasts from hell ! 

" So shall my banner, through long ages, be 

" The rallying sign of fraud and anarchy ; — 

" Kings yet unborn shall rue Mokaxxa's. name, 

" And, though I die, my spirit, still the same, 

" Shall walk abroad in all the stormy strife, 

" And guilt, and blood, that were its bliss in life. 

" But, hark ! their battering engine shakes the wall — 

" Why, let it shake — thus I can brave them all. 

" No trace of me shall greet them, when they come, 

" And I can trust thy faith, for — thou'lt be dumb. 

" Now mark how readily a wretch like me, 

" In one bold plunge, commences Deity ! " 

He sprung and sunk, as the last words were said — 
Quick clos'd the burning waters o'er his head, 
And Zelica was left — within the ring 
Of those wide walls the only living thing ; 



The only wretched one, still curs'd with breath, 

In all that frightful wilderness of death ! 

More like some bloodless ghost — such as, they tell, 

In the lone Cities of the Silent * dwell, 

And there, unseen of all but Alla, sit 

Each by its own pale carcass, watching it. 

But morn is up, and a fresh warfare stirs 
Throughout the camp of the beleaguerers. 
Their globes of fire (the dread artillery lent 
By Gkeece to conquering Mahadi) are spent ; 
And now the scorpion's shaft, the quarry sent 
From high balistas, and the shielded throng 
Of soldiers swinging the huge ram along, 
All speak the' impatient Islamite's intent 
To try, at length, if tower and battlement 
And bastion'd wall be not less hard to win, 
Less tough to break down than the hearts within. 

* " They have all a great reverence for burial-grounds, which 
they sometimes call by the poetical name of Cities of the Silent, 
and which they people with the ghosts of the departed, who sit 
each at the head of his own grave, invisible to mortal eyes." — 
Elphinstone. 




THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 137 

First in impatience and in toil is he, 

The burning Azim — oh! could he but see 

The' Impostor once alive within his grasp, 

Not the gaunt lion's hug, nor boa's clasp, 

Could match that gripe of vengeance, or keep pace 

With the fell heartiness of Hate's embrace ! 

Loud rings the ponderous ram against the walls ; 
Now shake the ramparts, now a buttress falls, 
But still no breach — "Once more, one mighty swing 
" Of all your beams, together thundering ! " 
There — the wall shakes — the shouting troops exult, 
" Quick, quick discharge your weightiest catapult 
" Right on that spot, and Neksheb is our own ! " 
'Tis done — the battlements come crashing down, 
And the huge wall, by that stroke riv'n in two, 
Yawning, like some old crater, rent anew, 
Shows the dim, desolate city smoking through. 
But strange ! no signs of life — nought living seen 
Above, below — what can this stillness mean ? 
A minute's pause suspends all hearts and eyes — 
" In through the breach," impetuous Azim cries ; 



138 LALLA ROOKH. 



But the cool Caliph, fearful of some wile 
In this blank stillness, checks the troops awhile. — 
Just then, a figure, with slow step, advanc'd 
Forth from the ruin'd walls, and, as there glanc'd 
A sunbeam over it, all eyes could see 
The weU-known Silver Veil! — "Tis He, 'tis He, 
" Mokanna, and alone ! " they shout around ; 
Young Azim from his steed springs to the ground - 
" Mine, Holy Caliph ! mine," he cries, " the task 
" To crush yon daring wretch — 'tis all I ask." 
Eager he darts to meet the demon foe, 
Who still across wide heaps of ruin slow 
And falteringly comes, till they are near ; 
Then, with a bound, rushes on Azim's spear, 
And, casting off the Veil in falling, shows — 
Oh ! — 'tis his Zelica's life-blood that flows ! 

" I meant not, Azim," soothingly she said, 
As on his trembling arm she lean'd her head, 
And, looking in his face, saw anguish there 
Beyond all wounds the quivering flesh can bear — 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 139 

" I meant not thou shouldst have the pain of this : — 

" Though death, with thee thus tasted, is a bliss 

" Thou wouldst not rob rne of, didst thou but know 

" How oft I've pray'd to God I might die so ! 

" But the Fiend's venom was too scant and slow ; — 

" To linger on were maddening — and I thought 

" If once that Veil — nay* look not on it — caught 

" The eyes of your fierce soldiery, I should be 

" Struck by a thousand death-darts instantly. 

" But this is sweeter — oh! believe me, yes — 

" I would not change this sad, but dear caress, 

" This death within thy arms I would not give 

" For the most smiling life the happiest live ! 

" All, that stood dark and drear before the eye 

" Of my stray 'd soul, is passing swiftly by; 

" A light comes o'er me from those looks of love, 

" Like the first dawn of mercy from above ; 

" And if thy lips but tell me I'm forgiven, 

" Angels will echo the blest words in Heaven ! 

" But live, my Azim ; — oh ! to call thee mine 

" Thus once again ! my Azim — dream divine ! 



140 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Live, if thou ever lov'dst me, if to meet 

" Thy Zelica hereafter would be sweet, 

" Oh, live to pray for her — to bend the knee 

" Morning and night before that Deity, 

" To whom pure lips and hearts without a stain, 

" As thine are, Azim, never breath'd in vain, — 

" And pray that He may pardon her, — may take 

" Compassion on her soul for thy dear sake, 

" And, nought remembering but her love to thee, 

" Make her all thine, all His, eternally ! 

" Go to those happy fields where first we twin'd 

" Our youthful hearts together — every wind 

" That meets thee there, fresh from the well-known 

flowers, 
" Will bring the sweetness of those innocent hours 
" Back to thy soul, and mayst thou feel again 
" For thy poor Zelica as thou didst then. 
" So shall thy orisons, like dew that flies 
" To Heaven upon the morning's sunshine, rise 
" With all love's earliest ardour to the skies ! 
" And should they — but, alas, my senses fail — 
" Oh for one minute ! — should thy prayers prevail — 



THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. 141 

" If pardon'd souls may, from that World of Bliss, 

" Reveal their joy to those they love in this — 

" I'll come to thee — in some sweet dream — and 

tell — 
" Oh Heaven — I die — dear love! farewell, farewell." 

Time fleeted — years on years had pass'd away, 
And few of those who, on that mournful day, 
Had stood, with pity in their eyes, to see 
The maiden's death, and the youth's agony, 
Were living still — when, by a rustic grave, 
Beside the swift Amoo's transparent wave, 
An aged man, who had grown aged there 
By that lone grave, morning and night in prayer, 
For the last time knelt down — and, though the shade 
Of death hung darkening over him, there play'd 
A gleam of rapture on his eye and cheek, 
That brighten'd even Death — like the last streak 
Of intense glory on the' horizon's brim, 
When night o'er all the rest hangs chill and dim. 
His soul had seen a Vision, while he slept ; 
She, for whose spirit he had pray'd and wept 



142 LALLA ROOKH. 



So many years, had come to him, all drest 

In angel smiles, and told him she was blest ! 

For this the old man breath'd his thanks, and died. — 

And there, npon the banks of that lov'd tide, 

He and his Zelica sleep side by side. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



143 



The story of the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan being 
ended, they were now doomed to hear Fadladeen's 
criticisms upon it. A series of disappointments and 
accidents had occurred to this learned Chamberlain 
during the journey. In the first place, those couriers 
stationed, as in the reign of Shah Jehan, between Delhi 
and the Western coast of India, to secure a constant 
supply of mangoes for the Royal Table, had, by some 
cruel irregularity, failed in their duty ; and to eat any 
mangoes but those of Mazagong was, of course, impos- 
sible. * In the next place, the elephant, laden with his 



* " The celebrity of Mazagong is owing to its mangoes, which 
are certainly the best fruit I ever tasted. The parent-tree, from 
which all those of this species have been grafted, is honoured dur- 
ing the fruit-season by a guard of sepoys ; and, in the reign of 
Shah Jehan, couriers were stationed between Delhi and the Mah- 
ratta coast to secure an abundant and fresh supply of mangoes 
for the royal table." — Mrs. Graham's Journal of a Residence in 
India. 



144 LALLA ROOKH. 



fine antique porcelain *, had, in an unusual fit of live- 
liness, shattered the whole set to pieces :■■■ — an irreparable 
loss, as many of the vessels were so exquisitely old, as 
to have been used under the Emperors Yan and Chun, 
who reigned many ages before the dynasty of Tang. 
His Koran, too, supposed to be the identical copy 
between the leaves of which Mahomet's favourite pigeon 
used to nestle, had been mislaid by his Koran-bearer 
three whole days ; not without much spiritual alarm to 
Fadladeen, who, though professing to hold with other 
loyal and orthodox Mussulmans, that salvation could 
only be found in the Koran, was strongly suspected of 
believing in his heart, that it could only be found in his 
own particular copy of it. When to all these grievances 



* This old porcelain is found in digging, and " if it is esteemed, 
it is not because it has acquired any new degree of beauty in the 
earth, but because it has retained its ancient beauty ; and this alone 
is of great importance in China, where they give large sums for 
the smallest vessels which were used under the Emperors Yan and 
Chun, who reigned many ages before the dynasty of Tang, at which 
time porcelain began to be used by the Emperors " (about the year 
442). — Dunn's Collection of curious Observations, &c. ; — a bad 
translation of some parts of the Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses of 
the Missionary Jesuits. 



LALLA ROOKH. 145 



is added the obstinacy of the cooks, in putting the 
pepper of Canara into his dishes instead of the cinnamon 
of Serendib, we may easily suppose that he came to the 
task of criticism with, at least, a sufficient degree of ir- 
ritability for the purpose. 

" In order," said he, importantly swinging about his 
chaplet of pearls, " to convey with clearness my opinion 
of the story this young man has related, it is necessary 

to take a review of all the stories that have ever " 

— "My good Fadladeen!" exclaimed the Princess, 
interrupting him, " we really do not deserve that you 
should give yourself so much trouble. Your opinion of 
the poem we have just heard, will, I have no doubt, be 
abundantly edifying, without any further waste of your 
valuable erudition." — " If that be all," replied the critic, 
— evidently mortified at not being allowed to show how 
much he knew about every thing, but the subject im- 
mediately before him — "if that be all that is required, 
the matter is easily despatched." He then proceeded 
to analyse the poem, in that strain (so well known to 
the unfortunate bards of Delhi), whose censures were 



an infliction from which few recovered, and whose very 
praises were like the honey extracted from the bitter 
flowers of the aloe. The chief personages of the story 
were, if he rightly understood them, an ill-favoured 
gentleman, with a veil over his face; — a young lady, 
whose reason went and came, according as it suited 
the poet's convenience to be sensible or otherwise ; — 
and a youth in one of those hideous Bucharian bonnets, 
who took the aforesaid gentleman in a veil for a Divinity. 
"From such materials," said he, "what can be ex- 
pected? — after rivalling each other in long speeches 
and absurdities, through some thousands of lines as indi- 
gestible as the filberts of Berdaa, our friend in the veil 
jumps into a tub of aquafortis ; the young lady dies in 
a set speech, whose only recommendation is that it is 
her last ; and the lover lives on to a good old age, for 
the laudable purpose of seeing her ghost, which he at 
last happily accomplishes, and expires. This, you will 
allow, is a fair summary of the story ; and if Nasser, the 
Arabian merchant, told no better*, our Holy Prophet 

* " La lecture de ces Fables plaisoit si fort aux Arabes, que, 
quand Mahomet les entretenoit de l'Histoire de l'Ancien Testament, 



LALLA ROOKH. 



147 



(to whom be all honour and glory ! ) had no need to be 
jealous of his abilities for story-telling." 

With respect to the style, it was worthy of the 
matter; — it had not even those politic contrivances of 
structure, which make up for the commonness of the 
thoughts by the peculiarity of the manner, nor that 
stately poetical phraseology by which sentiments mean 
in themselves, like the blacksmith's! apron converted 
into a banner, are so easily gilt and embroidered into 
consequence. Then, as to the versification, it was, to 
say no worse of it, execrable: it had neither the co- 
pious flow of Ferdosi, the sweetness of Hafez, nor the 
sententious march of Sadi, but appeared to him, in 
the uneasy heaviness of its movements, to have been 
modelled upon the gait of a very tired dromedary. 
The licences, too, in which it indulged, were unpardon- 



ils les meprisoient, lui disant que celles que Nasser leur racon- 
toient etoient beaucoup plus belles. Cette preference attira a 
Nasser la malediction de Mahomet et de tous ses disciples." — 
D'Herbelot. 

f The blacksmith Gao, who successfully resisted the tyrant 
Zohak, and whose apron became the Royal Standard of Persia. 



148 



LALLA ROOKH. 



able; — for instance, this line, and the poem abounded 
with such ; — 

Like the faint, exquisite music of a dream. 

" What critic that can count," said Fadladeen, " and 
has his full complement of fingers to count withal, 
would tolerate for an instant such syllabic superfluities ? " 
— He here looked round, and discovered that most of 
his audience were asleep ; while the glimmering lamps 
seemed inclined to follow their example. It became 
necessary, therefore, however painful to himself, to put 
an end to his valuable animadversions for the present, 
and he accordingly concluded, with an air of dignified 
candour, thus : — " Notwithstanding the observations 
which I have thought it my duty to make, it is by no 
means my wish to discourage the young man : — so far 
from it, indeed, that if he will but totally alter his style 
of writing and thinking, I have very little doubt that 
I shall be vastly pleased with him." 



Some days elapsed, after this harangue of the Great 
Chamberlain, before Lalla Rookh could venture to 



LALLA ROOKH. 149 



ask for another story. The youth was still a welcome 
guest in the pavilion — to one heart, perhaps, too danger- 
ously welcome ; — but all mention of poetry was, as if by 
common consent, avoided. Though none of the party 
had much respect for Fadladeex, yet his censures, 
thus magisterially delivered, evidently made an impres- 
sion on them all. The Poet, himself, to whom criticism 
was quite a new operation, (being wholly unknown in 
that Paradise of the Indies, Cashmere,) felt the shock 
as it is generally felt at first, till use has made it more 
tolerable to the patient; — the Ladies began to suspect 
that they ought not to be pleased, and seemed to 
conclude that there must have been much good sense 
in what Fadladeen said, from its having set them all 
so soundly to sleep ; — while the self-complacent Cham- 
berlain was left to triumph in the idea of having, for 
the hundred and fiftieth time in his life, extinguished a 
Poet. Lalla Rookh alone — and Love knew why — 
persisted in being delighted with all she had heard, and 
in resolving to hear more as speedily as possible. Her 
manner, however, of first returning to the subject was 
unlucky. It was while they rested during the heat of 



150 LAXLA ROOKH. 



noon near a fountain, on which some hand had rudely 
traced those well known words from the Garden of 
Sadi, — " Many, like me, have viewed this fountain, but 
they are gone, and their eyes are closed for ever ! " — 
that she took occasion, from the melancholy beauty of 
this passage, to dwell upon the charms of poetry in 
general. " It is true," she said, " few poets can imitate 
that sublime bird, which flies always in the air, and 
never touches the earth * : — it is only once in many 
ages a Genius appears, whose words, like those on the 
Written Mountain, last for ever f : — but still there are 



* " The Hunia, a bird peculiar to the East. It is supposed to 
fly constantly in the air, and never touch the ground ; it is looked 
upon as a bird of happy omen ; and that every head it overshades 
will in time wear a crown." — Richardson. 

In the terms of alliance made by Fuzzel Oola Khan with Hyder 
in 1760, one of the stipulations was, "that he should have the dis- 
tinction of two honorary attendants standing behind him, holding 
fans composed of the feathers of the humma, according to the 
practice of his family." — Willis's South of India. He adds in a 
note ; — " The Humma is a fabulous bird. The head over which 
its shadow once passes will assuredly be circled with a crown. 
The splendid little bird suspended over the throne of Tippoo 
Sultaun, found at Seringapatam in 1799, was intended to re- 
present this poetical fancy." 

f " To the pilgrims to Mount Sinai we must attribute the in- 



LALLA ROOKH. 151 



some, as delightful, perhaps, though not so wonderful, 
who, if not stars over our head, are at least flowers along 
our path, and whose sweetness of the moment we ought 
gratefully to inhale, without calling upon them for a 
brightness and a durability beyond their nature. In 
short," continued she, blushing, as if conscious of being 
caught in an oration, " it is quite cruel that a poet cannot 
wander through his regions of enchantment, without 
having a critic for ever, like the old Man of the Sea, 
upon his back !"* — Fadladeen, it was plain, took this 
last luckless allusion to himself, and would treasure it 
up in his mind as a whetstone for his next criticism. A 
sudden silence ensued ; and the Princess, glancing a look 



scriptions, figures, &c. on those rocks, which have from thence ac- 
quired the name of the Written Mountain." — Volney. M. Gebelin 
and others have been at much pains to attach some mysterious 
and important meaning to these inscriptions ; but Niebuhr, as 
well as Volney, thinks that they must have been executed at idle 
hours by the travellers to Mount Sinai, " who were satisfied with 
cutting the unpolished rock with any pointed instrument ; adding 
to their names and the date of their journeys some rude figures, 
which bespeak the hand of a people but little skilled in the arts." — 
Niebuhr. 

* The Story of Sinbad. 



152 



LALLA ROOKH. 



at Feramorz, saw plainly she must wait for a more 
courageous moment. 

But the glories of Nature, and her wild, fragrant airs, 
playing freshly over the current of youthful spirits, will 
soon heal even deeper wounds than the dull Fadladeens 
of this world can inflict. In an evening or two after, 
they came to the small Valley of Gardens, which had 
been planted by order of the Emperor, for his favourite 
sister Rochinara, during their progress to Cashmere, 
some years before ; and never was there a more spark- 
ling assemblage of sweets, since the Gulzar-e-Irem, or 
Rose-bower of Irem. Every precious flower was there 
to be found, that poetry, or love, or religion, has ever 
consecrated ; from the dark hyacinth, to which Hafez 
compares his mistress's hair *, to the Cdmalatd, by 
whose rosy blossoms the heaven of Indra is scented, f 

* See Notfs Hafez, Ode v. 

f " The Camalata (called by Linnasus Ipomsea) is the most 
beautiful of its order, both in the colour and form of its leaves and 
flowers ; its elegant blossoms are ' celestial rosy red, Love's proper 
hue,' and have justly procured it the name of Camalata, or Love's 
Creeper." — Sir W. Jones. 

" Camalata may also mean a mythological plant, by which all 






LALLA ROOKH. 



153 



As they sat in the cool fragrance of this delicious spot, 
and Lalla Rookh remarked that she could fancy it 
the abode of that Flower-loving Nymph whom they 
worship in the temples of Kathay *, or of one of those 
Peris, those beautiful creatures of the air, who live upon 
perfumes, and to whom a place like this might make 
some amends for the Paradise they have lost, — the 
young Poet, in whose eyes she appeared, while she spoke, 
to be one of the bright spiritual creatures she was de- 
scribing, said hesitatingly that he remembered a Story 
of a Peri, which, if the Princess had no objection, he 
would venture to relate. " It is," said he, with an ap- 
pealing look to Fadladeen, " in a lighter and humbler 
strain than the other : " then, striking a few careless but 
melancholy chords on his kitar, he thus began : — 



desires are granted to such as inhabit the heaven of Indra ; and if 
ever flower was worthy of paradise, it is our charming Ipomgea." — 
Sir W. Jones. 

* " According to Father Preinare, in his tract on Chinese My- 
thology, the mother of Fo-hi was the daughter of heaven, surnamed 
Flower-loving ; and as the nymph was walking alone on the bank 
of a river, she found herself encircled by a rainbow, after which she 
became pregnant, and, at the end of twelve years, was delivered of 
a son radiant as herself." — Asiat Res. 



PARADISE AND THE PERI 



One raorn a Peri at the gate 
Of Eden stood, disconsolate ; 
And as she listen'd to the Springs 

Of Life within, like mnsic flowing, 
And caught the light upon her wings 

Through the half-open portal glowing, 
She wept to think her recreant race 
Should e'er have lost that glorious place ! 

" How happy," exclaini'd this child of air, 
" Are the holy Spirits who wander there, 

" Mid flowers that never shall fade or fall ; 
" Though mine are the gardens of earth and sea, 
" And the stars themselves have flowers for me, 

" One blossom of Heaven out-blooms them all ! 





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PARADISE AND THE PERL 155 






" Though sunny the Lake of cool Cashmere, 
" With its plane-tree Isle reflected clear, * 

" And sweetly the founts of that Valley fall ; 
" Though bright are the waters of Sing-su-hay, 
" And the golden floods that thitherward stray, f 
" Yet — oh, 'tis only the Blest can say 

" How the waters of Heaven outshine them all ! 

" Go, wing thy flight from star to star, 
" From world to luminous world, as far 

" As the universe spreads its flaming wall : 
" Take all the pleasures of all the spheres, 
" And multiply each through endless years, 

" One minute of Heaven is worth them all ! " 

The glorious Angel, who was keeping 
The gates of Light, beheld her weeping ; 

* " Numerous small islands emerge from the Lake of Cashmere. 
One is called Char Chenaur, from the plane trees upon it." — 
Foster. 

| " The Altan Kol or Golden River of Tibet, which runs into 
the Lakes of Sing-su-hay, has abundance of gold in its sands, 
which employs the inhabitants all the summer in gathering it." — 
Description of Tibet in Pinkerton. 



156 LALLA ROOKH. 



And, as he nearer drew and listen'd 
To her sad song, a tear-drop glisten'd 
Within his eyelids, like the spray 

From Eden's fountain, when it lies 
On the blue flow'r, which — Bramins say — 

Blooms nowhere but in Paradise. * 

" Nymph of a fair but erring line ! " 
Gently he said — " One hope is thine. 
" 'Tis written in the Book of Fate, 

" The Peri yet may be forgiven 
" Who brings to this Eternal gate 

" The Gift that is most dear to Heaven ! 
" Go, seek it, and redeem thy sin — 
" 'Tis sweet to let the Pardon'd in." 



* " The Brahmins of this province insist that the blue campac 
flowers only in paradise." — Sir W. Jones. It appears, however, 
from a curious letter of the Sultan of Menangcabow, given by 
Marsden, that one place on earth may lay claim to the possession 
of it. " This is the Sultan, who keeps the flower champaka that is 
blue, and to be found in no other country but his, being yellow 
elsewhere." — Marsden 's Sumatra. 



PARADISE AND THE PERI. 



157 



Rapidly as comets run 

To the' embraces of the Sun ; — 

Fleeter than the starry brands 

Flung at night from angel hands * 

At those dark and daring sprites 

Who would climb the' empyreal heights, 

Down the blue vault the Peri flies, 

And, lighted earthward by a glance 
That just then broke from morning's eyes, 

Hung hovering o'er our world's expanse. 

But whither shall the Spirit go 
To find this gift for Heaven ? — "I know 
" The wealth," she cries, " of every urn, 
" In which unnumber'd rubies burn, 
" Beneath the pillars of Chilminar ; f 
" I know where the Isles of Perfume are 



* " The Mahometans suppose that falling stars are the fire- 
brands wherewith the good angels drive away the bad, when they 
approach too near the empyrean or verge of the heavens." — 
Fryer. 

f The Forty Pillars ; so the Persians call the ruins of Perse- 
polis. It is imagined by them that this palace and the edifices at 



158 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Many a fathom down in the sea, 

" To the south of sun-bright Akaby ; * 

" I know, too, where the Genii hid 

" The jewell'd cup of their King Jamshid, f 

" With Life's elixir sparkling high — 

" But gifts like these are not for the sky. 

" Where was there ever a gem that shone 

" Like the steps of Alla's wonderful Throne ? 

" And the Drops of Life — oh ! what would they be 

" In the boundless Deep of Eternity ? " 

While thus she mus'd, her pinions fann'd 
The air of that sweet Indian land, 



Balbec were built by Genii, for the purpose of hiding in their sub- 
terraneous caverns immense treasures, which still remain there. — 
U Herbelot, Volney. 

* The Isles of Panchaia. 

Diodorus mentions the Isle of Panchaia, to the south of Arabia 
Felix, where there was a temple of Jupiter. This island, or rather 
cluster of isles, has disappeared, " sunk (says Grandpre) in the 
abyss made by the fire beneath their foundations." — Voyage to the 
Indian Ocean. 

f " The cup of Jamshid, discovered, they say, when digging for 
the foundations of Persepolis." — Richardson. 



PARADISE AND THE PERL 159 

Whose air is balm ; whose ocean spreads 
O'er coral rocks, and amber beds : * 
Whose mountains, pregnant by the beam 
Of the warm sun, with diamonds teem ; 
Whose rivulets are like rich brides, 
Lovely, with gold beneath their tides ; 
Whose sandal groves and bowers of spice 
Might be a Peri's Paradise ! 
But crimson now her rivers ran 

With human blood — the smell of death 
Came reeking from those spicy bowers, 
And man, the sacrifice of man, 

Mingled his taint with every breath 
Upwafted from the innocent flowers. 



* " It is not like the Sea of India, whose bottom is rich with 
pearls and ambergris, whose mountains of the coast are stored with 
gold and precious stones, whose gulfs breed creatures that yield 
ivory, and among the plants of whose shores are ebony, red wood, 
and the wood of Hairzan, aloes, camphor, cloves, sandal- wood, and 
all other spices and aromatics ; where parrots and peacocks are 
birds of the forest, and musk and civet are collected upon the 
lands." — Travels of two Mohammedans. 



160 LALLA ROOKH. 



Land of the Sun ! what foot invades 

Thy Pagods and thy pillar'd shades — * 

Thy cavern shrines, and Idol stones, 

Thy Monarchs and their thousand Thrones ? f 

'Tis He of GtAZNa:J — fierce in wrath 

He comes, and India's diadems 
Lie scatter'd in his ruinous path. — 

His bloodhounds he adorns with gems, 
Torn from the violated necks 

Of many a young and lov'd Sultana ; § 
Maidens, within their pure Zenana, 
Priests in the very fane he slaughters, 

* in the ground 

The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow 

About the mother-tree, a pillar d shade, 

High over-arch' d, and echoing walks between. — Milton. 

For a particular description and plate of the Banyan-tree, see 
Cordiner's Ceylon. 

f " With this immense treasure Mamood returned to Ghizni, 
and in the year 400 prepared a magnificent festival, where he dis- 
played to the people his wealth in golden thrones and in other or- 
naments, in a great plain without the city of Ghizni." — Ferishta. 

I " Mahmood of Gazna, or Ghizni, who conquered India in the 
beginning of the 11th century." — See his History in Dow and Sir 
J. Malcolm. 

§ " It is reported that the hunting equipage of the Sultan Mah- 



PARADISE AND THE PERL 161 

And choaks up with the glittering wrecks 
Of golden shrines the sacred waters ! 

Downward the Peri turns her gaze, 
And, through the war-field's bloody haze 
Beholds a youthful warrior stand, 

Alone, beside his native river, — 
The red blade broken in his hand, 

And the last arrow in his quiver. 
" Live," said the Conqueror, " live to share 
" The trophies and the crowns I bear ! " 
Silent that youthful warrior stood — 
Silent he pointed to the flood 
All crimson with his country's blood, 
Then sent his last remaining dart, 
For answer, to the' Invader's heart. 

False flew the shaft, though pointed well ; 
The Tyrant liv'd, the Hero fell ! — 



mood was so magnificent, that he kept 400 greyhounds and blood- 
hounds, each of which wore a collar set with jewels, and a covering 
edged with gold and pearls." — Universal History, vol. iii. 



162 LALLA ROOKH. 



Yet mark'd the Peki where he lay, 
And, when the rush of war was past, 

Swiftly descending on a ray 

Of morning light, she caught the last — 

Last glorious drop his heart had shed, 

Before its free-born spirit fled ! 

" Be this," she cried, as she wing'd her flight, 
" My welcome gift at the Gates of Light. 
" Though foul are the drops that oft distil 

" On the field of warfare, blood like this, 

" For Liberty shed, so holy is, * 
" It would not stain the purest rill, 

" That sparkles among the Bowers of Bliss ! 

* Objections may be made to my use of the word Liberty in 
this, and more especially in the story that follows it, as totally in- 
applicable to any state of things that has ever existed in the East ; 
but though I cannot, of course, mean to employ it in that enlarged 
and noble sense which is so well understood at the present day, 
and, I grieve to say, so little acted upon, yet it is no. disparagement 
to the word to apply it to that national independence, that freedom 
from the interference and dictation of foreigners, without which, 
indeed, no liberty of any kind can exist ; and for which both 
Hindoos and Persians fought against their Mussulman invaders 
with, in many cases, a bravery that deserved much better success. 



PARADISE AND THE PERL 163 

" Oh, if there be, on this earthly sphere, 

" A boon, an offering Heaven holds dear, 

" 'Tis the last libation Liberty draws 

" From the heart that bleeds and breaks in her cause ! " 

" Sweet," said the Angel, as she gave 

The gift into his radiant hand, 
" Sweet is our welcome of the Brave 

" Who die thus for their native Land. — 
" But see — alas ! — the crystal bar 
" Of Eden moves not — holier far 
" Than ev'n this drop the boon must be, 
" That opes the Gates of Heaven for thee ! " 

Her first fond hope of Eden blighted, 
Now among Afric's lunar Mountains, * 

Far to the South, the Peri lighted ; 

And sleek'd her plumage at the fountains 

* " The Mountains of the Moon, or the Montes Lunse of anti- 
quity, at the foot of which the Nile is supposed to arise." — Bruce. 

" Sometimes called," says Jackson, " Jibbel Kumrie, or the white 
or lunar-coloured mountains ; so a white horse is called by the 
Arabians a moon- coloured horse." 



164 LALLA ROOKH. 



Of that Egyptian tide — whose birth 
Is hidden from the sons of earth 
Deep in those solitary woods, 
Where oft the Genii of the Floods 
Dance round the cradle of their Nile, 
And hail the new-born Giant's smile. * 
Thence over Egypt's palmy groves, 

Her grots, and sepulchres of Kings, f 
The exil'd Spirit sighing roves ; 
And now hangs listening to the doves 
In warm Rosetta's vale J — now loves 

To watch the moonlight on the wings 
Of the white pelicans that break 
The azure calm of Mceris' Lake. § 
'Twas a fair scene — a Land more bright 

Never did mortal eye behold ! 



* " The Nile, which the Abyssinians know by the names of Abey 
and Alawy, or the Giant." — Asiat. Research, vol. i. p. 387. 

f See Perry's View of the Levant for an account of the sepul- 
chres in Upper Thebes, and the numberless grots, covered all over 
with hieroglyphics in the mountains of Upper Egypt. 

| " The orchards of Rosetta are filled with turtle-doves." — 
Sonnini. 

§ Savary mentions the pelicans upon Lake Mceris. 



PARADISE AND THE PERL 165 

Who could have thought, that saw this night 

Those valleys and their fruits of gold 
Basking in Heaven's serenest light ; — 
Those groups of lovely date-trees bending 

Languidly their leaf-crown'd heads, 
Like youthful maids, when sleep descending 

Warns them to their silken beds ; — * 
Those virgin lilies, all the night 

Bathing their beauties in the lake, 
That they may rise more fresh and bright, 

When their beloved Sun's awake ; — 
Those ruin'd shrines and towers that seem 
The relics of a splendid dream ; 

Amid whose fairy loneliness 
Nought but the lapwing's cry is heard, 
Nought seen but (when the shadows, flitting 
Fast from the moon, unsheath its gleam,) 
Some purple-wing'd Sultana f sitting 

Upon a column, motionless 
And glittering like an Idol bird ! — 

* ■" The superb date-tree, whose head languidly reclines, like that 
of a handsome woman overcome with sleep." — Dafard el Hadad. 
"j* " That beautiful bird, with plumage of the finest shining blue, 



166 LALLA ROOKH. 



Who could have thought, that there, ev'n there, 

Amid those scenes so still and fair, 

The Demon of the Plague hath cast 

From his hot wing a deadlier blast, 

More mortal far than ever came 

From the red Desert's sands of flame ! 

So quick, that every living thing 

Of human shape, touch'd by his wing, 

Like plants, where the Simoom hath past, 

At once falls black and withering ! 

The sun went down on many a brow, 
Which, full of bloom and freshness then, 

Is rankling in the pest-house now, 
And ne'er will feel that sun again. 

And, oh ! to see the unburied heaps 

On which the lonely moonlight sleeps — 

The very vultures turn away, 

And sicken at so foul a prey ! 

with purple beak and legs, the natural and living ornament of the 
temples and palaces of the Greeks and Romans, which, from the 
stateliness of its port, as well as the brilliancy of its colours, has 
obtained the title of Sultana." — Sonnini. 



PARADISE AND THE PERI. 167 



Only the fierce hyama stalks * 
Throughout the city's desolate walks f 
At midnight, and his carnage plies : — 

Woe to the half-dead wretch, who meets 
The glaring of those large blue eyes f 

Amid the darkness of the streets ! 

" Poor race of men ! " said the pitying Spirit, 

" Dearly ye pay for your primal Fall — 
" Some flow'rets of Eden ye still inherit, 

" But the trail of the Serpent is over them all ! " 
She wept — the air grew pure and clear 

Around her, as the bright drops ran ; 
For there's a magic in each tear 

Such kindly Spirits weep for man ! 

* Jackson, speaking of the plague that occurred in West Bar- 
bary, when he was there, says, " The birds of the air fled away 
from the abodes of men. The hycenas, on the contrary, visited the 
cemeteries," &c. 

f " Gondar was full of hyaenas from the time it turned dark, till 
the dawn of day, seeking the different pieces of slaughtered car- 
casses, which this cruel and unclean people expose in the streets 
without burial, and who firmly believe that these animals are 
Falashta from the neighbouring mountains, transformed by magic, 
and come down to eat human flesh in the dark in safety." — Bruce. 

% Ibid. 



168 LALLA ROOKH. 



Just then beneath some orange trees, 
Whose fruit and blossoms in the breeze 
Were wantoning together, free, 
Like age at play with infancy — 
Beneath that fresh and springing bower, 

Close by the Lake, she heard the moan 
Of one who, at this silent hour, 

Had thither stol'n to die alone. 
One who in life, where'er he mov'd, 

Drew after him the hearts of many ; 
Yet now, as though he ne'er were lov'd, 

Dies here unseen, unwept by any ! 
None to watch near him — none to slake 

The fire that in his bosom lies, 
With ev'n a sprinkle from that lake, 

Which shines so cool before his eyes. 
No voice, well known through many a day, 

To speak the last, the parting word, 
Which, when all other sounds decay, 

Is still like distant music heard ; — 
That tender farewell on the shore 
Of this rude world, when all is o'er, 



PARADISE AND THE PERL 169 



Which cheers the spirit, ere its bark 
Puts off into the unknown Dark. 

Deserted youth ! one thought alone 

Shed joy around his soul in death — 
That she, whom he for years had known, 
And lov'd, and might have call'd his own, 

Was safe from this foul midnight's breath, 
Safe in her father's princely halls, 
Where the cool airs from fountain falls, 
Freshly perfum'd by many a brand 
Of the sweet wood from India's land, 
Were pure as she whose brow they fann'd. 

But see — who yonder conies by stealth,* 
This melancholy bower to seek, 

Like a young envoy, sent by Health, 
With rosy gifts upon her cheek ? 



* This circumstance has been often introduced into poetry ;— by 
Vincentius Fabricius, by Darwin, and lately, with very powerful 
effect, by Mr. Wilson. 



170 LALLA ROOKH. 



'Tis she — far off, through moonlight dim. 

He knew his own betrothed bride, 
She, who would rather die with him, 

Than live to gain the world beside ! — 
Her arms are round her lover now, 

His livid cheek to hers she presses, 
And dips, to bind his burning brow, 

In the cool lake her loosen'd tresses. 
Ah ! once, how little did he think 
An hour would come, when he should shrink 
With horror from that dear embrace, 

Those gentle arms, that were to him 
Holy as is the cradling place 

Of Eden's infant cherubim ! 
And now he yields — now turns away, 
Shuddering as if the venom lay 
All in those proffer'd lips alone — 
Those lips that, then so fearless grown, 
Never until that instant came 
Near his unask'd or without shame. 
" Oh ! let me only breathe the air, 

" The blessed air, that's breath'd by thee, 




- 
Am I not thine — thv ami lov'd "bride — 
Tie one, the 
In. life or C -' de ? 






PARADISE AND THE PERI. 171 



" And whether on its wings it bear 

" Healing or death, 'tis sweet to me ! 
" There — drink my tears, while yet they fall — 

" Would that my bosom's blood were balm, 
" And, well thou know'st, I'd shed it all, 

" To give thy brow one minute's calm. 
" Nay, turn not from me that dear face — 

" Am I not thine — thy own lov'd bride — 
" The one, the chosen one, whose place 

" In life or death is by thy side ? 
" Think'st thou that she, whose only light, 

" In this dim world, from thee hath shone, 
" Could bear the long, the cheerless night, 

" That must be hers when thou art gone ? 
" That I can live and let thee go, 
i£ Who art my life itself? — No, no — 
" When the stem dies, the leaf that grew 
" Out of its heart must perish too ! 
" Then turn to me, my own love, turn, 
" Before, like thee, I fade and burn ; 
" Cling to these yet cool lips, and share 
" The last pure life that lingers there ! " 



172 LALLA ROOKH. 



She fails — she sinks — as dies the lamp 
In charnel airs, or cavern-damp, 
So quickly do his baleful sighs 
Quench all the sweet light of her eyes. 
One struggle — and his pain is past — 

Her lover is no longer living ! 
One kiss the maiden gives, one last, 

Long kiss, which she expires in giving ! 

" Sleep," said the Peri, as softly she stole 
The farewell sigh of that vanishing soul, 
As true as e'er warm'd a woman's breast — 
" Sleep on, in visions of odour rest, 
" In balmier airs than ever yet stirr'd 
" The' enchanted pile of that lonely bird, 
" Who sings at the last his own death-lay,* 
" And in music and perfume dies away ! " 

* " In the East, they suppose the Phoenix to have fifty orifices 
in his bill, which are continued to his tail ; and that, after living 
one thousand years, he builds himself a funeral pile, sings a melo- 
dious air of different harmonies through his fifty organ pipes, flaps 
his wings with a velocity which sets fire to the wood, and consumes 
himself." — Richardson. 



PARADISE AND THE PERL 173 

Thus saying, from her lips she spread 

Unearthly breathings through the place, 
And shook her sparkling wreath, and shed 

Such lustre o'er each paly face, 
That like two lovely saints they seem'd, 

Upon the eve of doomsday taken 
From their dim graves, in odour sleeping ; 

While that benevolent Peri beam'd 
Like their good angel, calmly keeping 

Watch o'er them till their souls would waken. 

But morn is blushing in the sky ; 

Again the Peri soars above, 
Bearing to Heaven that precious sigh 

Of pure, self-sacrificing love. 
High throbb'd her heart with hope elate, 

The Elysian palm she soon shall win, 
For the bright Spirit at the gate 

Smil'd as she gave that offering in ; 
And she already hears the trees 

Of Eden with their crystal bells 



174 LALLA ROOKH 



Ringing in that ambrosial breeze 

That from the throne of Alla swells ; 

And she can see the starry bowls 
That lie around that lucid lake, 

Upon whose banks admitted Souls 

Their first sweet draught of glory take ! * 

But, ah! even Peris' hopes are vain — 

Again the Fates forbade, again 

The' immortal barrier clos'd — "Not yet," 

The Angel said as, with regret, 

He shut from her that glimpse of glory — 

" True was the maiden, and her story, 

" Written in light o'er Alla's head, 

" By seraph eyes shall long be read. 

" But, Peri, see — the crystal bar 

" Of Eden moves not — holier far 

" Than ev'n this sigh the boon must be 

" That opes the Gates of Heav'n for thee." 

* " On the shores of a quadrangular lake stand a thousand 
goblets, made of stars, out of which souls predestined to enjoy 
felicity drink the crystal wave." — From Chateaubriand's Descrip- 
tion of the Mahometan Paradise, in his Beauties of Christianity. 



PARADISE AND THE PERL 175 

Now, upon Syria's land of roses * 
Softly the light of Eve reposes, 
And, like a glory, the broad sun 
Hangs over sainted Lebanon ; 
Whose head in wintry grandeur towers, 

And whitens with eternal sleet, 
While summer, in a vale of flowers, 

Is sleeping rosy at his feet. 

To one, who look'd from upper air 
O'er all the' enchanted regions there, 
How beauteous must have been the glow, 
The life, the sparkling from below ! 
Fair gardens, shining streams, with ranks 
Of golden melons on their banks, 
More golden where the sun-light falls ; — 
Gay lizards, glittering on the walls f 

* Richardson thinks that Syria had its name from Suri, a beau- 
tiful and delicate species of rose, for which that country has been 
always famous; — hence, Suristan, the Land of Roses. 

f " The number of lizards I saw one day in the great court of 
the Temple of the Sun at Balbec amounted to many thousands ; 
the ground, the walls, and stones of the ruined buildings, were 
covered with them." — Bruce. 



176 LALLA ROOKH. 



Of ruin'd shrines, busy and bright 
As they were all alive with light ; 
And, yet more splendid, numerous flocks 
Of pigeons, settling on the rocks, 
With their rich restless wings, that gleam 
Variously in the crimson beam 
Of the warm West, — as if inlaid 
With brilliants from the mine, or made 
Of tearless rainbows, such as span 
The' unclouded skies of Peristal. 
And then the mingling sounds that come, 
Of shepherd's ancient reed *, with hum 
Of the wild bees of Palestine, f 

Banquetting through the flowery vales ; 
And, Jordan, those sweet banks of thine, 

And woods, so full of nightingales. | 

* " The Syrinx or Pan's pipe is still a pastoral instrument in 
Syria." — Russel. 

f " Wild bees, frequent in Palestine, in hollow trunks or 
branches of trees and the clefts of rocks. Thus it is said (Psalm 
lxxxi.), ' honey out of the stony rock." 1 " — Burders Oriental Customs. 

| " The river Jordan is on both sides beset with little, thick, 
and pleasant woods, among which thousands of nightingales warble 
all together." — Thevenot. 







PARADISE AND THE PERL 177 

But nought can charm the luckless Peri ; 
Her soul is sad — her wings are weary — 
Joyless she sees the Sun look down 
On that great Temple, once bis own, * 
Whose lonely columns stand sublime, 

Flinging their shadows from on high, 
Like dials, which the wizard, Time, 

Had rais'd to count his ages by ! 

Yet haply there may lie conceal'd 
Beneath those Chambers of the Sun, 

Some amulet of gems, anneal'd 

In upper fires, some tablet seal'd 
With the great name of Solomon, 
Which, spell'd by her illumin'd eyes, 

May teach her where, beneath the moon, 

In earth or ocean, lies the boon, 

The charm, that can restore so soon 
An erring Spirit to the skies. 

* The Temple of the Sun at Balbec. 



178 LALLA ROOKH. 



Cheer'd by this hope she bends her thither ; 

Still laughs the radiant eye of Heaven, 

Nor have the golden bowers of Even 
In the rich West begun to wither ; — 
When, o'er the vale of Balbec winging 

Slowly, she sees a child at play, 
Among the rosy wild flowers singing, 

As rosy and as wild as they ; 
Chasing, with eager hands and eyes, 
The beautiful blue damsel flies, * 
That flutter'd round the jasmine stems, 
Like winged flowers or flying gems : — 
And, near the boy, who tir'd with play 
Now nestling 'mid the roses lay, 
She saw a wearied man dismount 

From his hot steed, and on the brink 
Of a small imaret's rustic fount f 

Impatient fling him down to drink. 



* " You behold there a considerable number of a remarkable 
species of beautiful insects, the elegance of whose appearance and 
their attire procured for them the name of Damsels." — Sonnini. 

f Imaret, " hospice ou. on loge et nourrit, gratis, les pelerins 




7 CorJ.ouU 



I ken swift ins Txappaid ""brow he turxul 
To the ikir c1iaL3., w3xo sat, 

ThoTi.olt Tiewr yet YiB-th. ELay-heam WruYL 
a bi:ov\" more fierce than, that,— 



■ 






PARADISE AND THE PERI. 179 

Then swift his haggard brow he turn'd 

To the fair child, who fearless sat, 
Though never yet hath day-beam burn'd 
Upon a brow more fierce than that, — 
Sullenly fierce — a mixture dire, 
Like thunder-clouds, of gloom and fire ; 
In which the Peri's eye could read 
Dark tales of many a ruthless deed ; 
The ruin'd maid — the shrine profan'd — 
Oaths broken — and the threshold stain'd 
With blood of guests ! — there written, all, 
Black as the damning drops that fall 
From the denouncing Angel's pen, 
Ere Mercy weeps them out again. 

Yet tranquil now that man of crime 
(As if the balmy evening time 
Soften'd his spirit) look'd and lay, 
Watching the rosy infant's play : — 



pendant trois jours." — Toderini, translated by the Abbe de Cour- 
nand. — See also Castellan's, Moeurs des Othomans, torn. v. p. 145. 



180 LALLA ROOKH. 



Though still, whene'er his eye by chance 
Fell on the boy's, its lurid glance 

Met that unclouded, joyous gaze, 
As torches, that have burnt all night 
Through some impure and godless rite, 

Encounter morning's glorious rays. 

But, hark ! the vesper call to prayer, 
As slow the orb of daylight sets, 

Is rising sweetly on the air, 

From Syria's thousand minarets ! 

The boy has started from the bed 

Of flowers, where he had laid his head, 

And down upon the fragrant sod 

Kneels *, with his forehead to the south, 

* " Such Turks as at the common hours of prayer are on the 
road, or so employed as not to find convenience to attend the 
mosques, are still obliged to execute that duty ; nor are they ever 
known to fail, whatever business they are then about, but pray im- 
mediately when the hour alarms them, whatever they are about, in 
that very place they chance to stand on ; insomuch that when a 
janissary, whom you have to guard you up and down the city, hears 
the notice which is given him from the steeples, he will turn about, 
stand still, and beckon with his hand, to tell his charge he must 
have patience for awhile ; when, taking out his handkerchief, he 



PARADISE AND THE PERI. 181 

Lisping the' eternal name of God 

From Purity's own cherub mouth, 
And looking, while his hands and eyes 
Are lifted to the glowing skies, 
Like a stray babe of Paradise, 
Just lighted on that flowery plain, 
And seeking for its home again. 
Oh! 'twas a sight — that Heaven — that child — 
A scene, which might have well beguil'd 
Ev'n haughty Eblis of a sigh 
For glories lost and peace gone by ! 

And how felt he, the wretched Man 
Reclining there — while memory ran 
O'er many a year of guilt and strife, 
Flew o'er the dark flood of his life, 
Nor found one sunny resting-place, 
Nor brought him back one branch of grace. 



spreads it on the ground, sits cross-legged thereupon, and says his 
prayers, though in the open market, which, having ended, he leaps 
briskly up, salutes the person whom he undertook to convey, and 
renews his journey with the mild expression of Ghell gohnnum 
ghell, or Come, dear, follow me." — Aaron Hill's Travels. 



182 LALLA ROOKH. 



" There was a time," he said, in mild, 
Heart-humbled tones — " thou blessed child ! 
" When, young and haply pure as thou, 
" I look'd and pray'd like thee — but now — " 
He hung his head — each nobler aim, 

And hope, and feeling, which had slept 
From boyhood's hour, that instant came 

Fresh o'er him, and he wept — he wept ! 

Blest tears of soul-felt penitence ! 

In whose benign, redeeming flow 
Is felt the first, the only sense 

Of guiltless joy that guilt can know. 

" There's a drop," said the Peri, " that down from the 

moon 
" Falls through the witherino- airs of June 
" Upon Egypt's land *, of so healing a power, 
" So balmy a virtue, that ev'n in the hour 



* The Nucta, or Miraculous Drop, which falls in Egypt pre- 
cisely on St. John's day, in June, and is supposed to have the 
effect of stopping the plague. 



PARADISE AND THE PERL 



183 



" That drop descends, contagion dies. 

" And health re-animates earth and skies ! — 

" Oh, is it not thus, thou man of sin, 

" The precious tears of repentance fall ? 
" Though foul thy fiery plagues within, 

" One heavenly drop hath dispell'd them all ! 

And now — behold him kneeling there 
By the child's side, in humble prayer, 
While the same sunbeam shines upon 
The guilty and the guiltless one, 
And hymns of joy proclaim through Heaven 
The triumph of a Soul Forgiven ! 

'Twas when the golden orb had set, 
While on their knees they linger'd yet, 
There fell a light more lovely far 
Than ever came from sun or star, 
Upon the tear that, warm and meek, 
Dew'd that repentant sinner's cheek. 
To mortal eye this light might seem 
A northern flash or meteor beam — 






184 LALLA ROOKH. 



But well the' enraptur'd Peri knew 
'Twas a bright smile the Angel threw 
From Heaven's gate, to hail that tear 
Her harbinger of glory near ! 

" Joy, joy for ever ! my task is done — 

" The Gates are pass'd, and Heaven is won ! 

" Oh ! am I not happy? I am, I am — 

" To thee, sweet Eden ! how dark and sad 
" Are the diamond turrets of Shadukiam, * 

" And the fragrant bowers of Amberabad ! 

" Farewell, ye odours of Earth, that die 
" Passing away like a lover's sigh ; — 
" My feast is now of the Tooba Tree,f 
" Whose scent is the breath of Eternity I 



* The Country of Delight — the name of a province in the king- 
dom of Jinnistan, or Fairy Land, the capital of which is called the 
City of Jewels. Amberabad is another of the cities of Jinnistan. 

j" The tree Tooba, that stands in Paradise, in the palace of Ma- 
homet. See Sale's Prelim. Disc. — Tooba, says D 'Herbelot, signi- 
fies beatitude, or eternal happiness. 



PARADISE AND THE PERI. 185 

" Farewell, ye vanishing flowers, that shone 

" In my fairy wreath so bright and brief; — 
" Oh ! what are the brightest that e'er hath blown, 
" To the lote-tree, springing by Alla's throne,* 

" Whose flowers have a soul in every leaf ! 
" Joy, joy for ever ! — my task is done — 
" The Gates are pass'd, and Heaven is won ! " 



* Mahomet is described, in the 53d chapter of the Koran, as 
having seen the angel Gabriel " by the lote-tree, beyond which 
there is no passing : near it is the Garden of Eternal Abode." This 
tree, say the commentators, stands in the seventh Heaven, on the 
right hand of the Throne of God. 



186 LALLA ROOKH. 



" And this," said the Great Chamberlain, " is poetry ! 
this flimsy manufacture of the brain, which, in compa- 
rison with the lofty and durable monuments of genius, 
is as the gold filigree-work of Zamara beside the eternal 
architecture of Egypt ! " After this gorgeous sentence, 
which, with a few more of the same kind, Fadladeen 
kept by him for rare and important occasions, he pro- 
ceeded to the anatomy of the short poem just recited. 
The lax and easy kind of metre in which it was written 
ought to be denounced, he said, as one of the leading 
causes of the alarming growth of poetry in our times. 
If some check were not given to this lawless facility, 
we should soon be over-run by a race of bards as nume- 
rous and as shallow as the hundred and twenty thousand 
Streams of Basra.* They who succeeded in this style 



* " It is said that the rivers or streams of Basra were reckoned 
in the time of Pelal ben Abi Bordeh, and amounted to the number 
of one hundred and twenty thousand streams." — Ebn Haukal. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



187 



deserved chastisement for their very success; — as war- 
riors have been punished, even after gaining a victory, 
because they had taken the liberty of gaining it in an 
irregular or unestablished manner. What, then, was to 
be said to those who failed ? to those who presumed, as 
in the present lamentable instance, to imitate the license 
and ease of the bolder sons of song, without any of that 
grace or vigour which gave a dignity even to negli- 
gence; — who, like them, flung the jereed* carelessly, 
but not, like them, to the mark ; — u and who," said 
he, raising his voice to excite a proper degree of wake- 
fulness in his hearers, " contrive to appear heavy and 
constrained in the midst of all the latitude they allow 
themselves, like one of those young pagans that dance 
before the Princess, who is ingenious enough to move 
as if her limbs were fettered, in a pair of the lightest 
and loosest drawers of Masulipatam ! " 

It was but little suitable, he continued, to the grave 
march of criticism to follow this fantastical Peri, of 



* The name of the javelin with which the Easterns exercise. See 
Castellan, Mceurs des Ottomans, tom. iii. p. 161. 



188 LALLA ROOKH. 



whom they had just heard, through all her nights and 
adventures between earth and heaven; but he could 
not help adverting to the puerile conceitedness of the 
Three Gifts which she is supposed to carry to the skies, — 
a drop of blood, forsooth, a sigh, and a tear ! How the 
first of these articles was delivered into the Angel's 
" radiant hand" he professed himself at a loss to dis- 
cover ; and as to the safe carriage of the sigh and the 
tear, such Peris and such poets were beings by far too 
incomprehensible for him even to guess how they 
managed such matters. " But, in short," said he, " it 
is a waste of time and patience to dwell longer upon a 
thing so incurably frivolous, — puny even among its 
own puny race, and such as only the Banyan Hospital * 
for Sick Insects should undertake." 

* " This account excited a desire of visiting the Banyan Hos- 
pital, as I had heard much of their benevolence to all kinds of 
animals that were either sick, lame, or infirm, through age or acci- 
dent. On my arrival, there were presented to my view many 
horses, cows, and oxen, in one apartment ; in another, dogs, sheep, 
goats, and monkeys, with clean straw for them to repose on. Above 
stairs were depositories for seeds of many sorts, and flat, broad 
dishes for water, for the use of birds and insects." — Parsons 's 
Travels. 

It is said that all animals know the Banyans, that the most timid 



LALLA ROOKH. 189 



In vain did Lalla Rookh try to soften this inex- 
orable critic ; in vain did she resort to her most eloquent 
common-places, — reminding him that poets were a 
timid and sensitive race, whose sweetness was not to 
be drawn forth, like that of the fragrant grass near the 
Ganges, by crushing and trampling upon them*; — 
that severity often extinguished every chance of the 
perfection which it demanded ; and that, after all, per- 
fection was like the Mountain of the Talisman, — no 
one had ever yet reached its summit, f Neither these 
gentle axioms, nor the still gentler looks with which 
they were inculcated, could lower for one instant the 
elevation of Fadladeen's eyebrows, or charm him into 
any thing like encouragement, or even toleration, of her 
poet. Toleration, indeed, was not among the weaknesses 



approach tliem, and that birds will fly nearer to them than to other 
people. — See Grandpre. 

* " A very fragrant grass from the banks of the Ganges, near 
Heridwar, which in some places covers whole acres, and diffuses, 
when crushed, a strong odour." — Sir W. Jones on the Spikenard 
of the Ancients. 

f " Near this is a curious hill, called Koh Talism, the Mountain 
of the Talisman, because, according to the traditions of the country, 
no person ever succeeded in gaining its summit." — Rinneir. 



190 LALLA ROOKH. 



of Fadladeen : — he carried the same spirit into 
matters of poetry and of religion, and, though little 
versed in the beauties or sublimities of either, was a 
perfect master of the art of persecution in both. His 
zeal was the same, too, in either pursuit ; whether the 
game before him was pagans or poetasters, — worshippers 
of cows, or writers of epics. 

They had now arrived at the splendid city of Lahore, 
whose mausoleums and shrines, magnificent and num- 
berless, where Death appeared to share equal honours 
with Heaven, would have powerfully affected the heart 
and imagination of Lalla Rookh, if feelings more of 
this earth had not taken entire possession of her already. 
She was here met by messengers, despatched from 
Cashmere, who informed her that the King had arrived 
in the Valley, and was himself superintending the 
sumptuous preparations that were then making in the 
Saloons of the Shalimar for her reception. The chill 
she felt on receiving this intelligence, — which to a bride 
whose heart was free and light would have brought only 
images of affection and pleasure, — convinced her that 



LALLA ROOKH. 



191 



her peace was gone for ever, and that she was in love, 
irretrievably in love, with young Feramorz. The veil 
had fallen off in which this passion at first disguises 
itself, and to know that she loved was now as painful 
as to love without knowing it had been delicious. Fe- 
ramorz, too, — what misery would be his, if the sweet 
hours of intercourse so imprudently allowed them should 
have stolen into his heart the same fatal fascination as 
into hers ; — if, notwithstanding her rank, and the modest 
homage he always paid to it, even he should have yielded 
to the influence of those long and happy interviews, 
where music, poetry, the delightful scenes of nature, — 
all had tended to bring their hearts close together, and 
to waken by every means that too ready passion, which 
often, like the young of the desert-bird, is warmed into 
life by the eyes alone ! * She saw but one way to 
preserve herself from being culpable as well as unhappy, 
and this, however painful, she was resolved to adopt. 
Feramorz must no more be admitted to her presence. 
To have strayed so far into the dangerous labyrinth was 



* " The Arabians believe that the ostriches hatch their youn^ 
by only looking at them." — P. Vanslebe, Relat. d'Egypte. v 



192 LALLA ROOKH. 



wrong, but to linger in it, while the clew was yet in her 
hand, would be criminal. Though the heart she had to 
offer to the King of Bucharia might be cold and broken, 
it should at least be pure ; and she must only endeavour 
to forget the short dream of happiness she had enjoyed, — 
like that Arabian shepherd, who, in wandering into the 
wilderness, caught a glimpse of the Gardens of Irim, 
and then lost them again for ever ! * 

The arrival of the young Bride at Lahore was cele- 
brated in the most enthusiastic manner. The Rajas 
and Omras in her train, who had kept at a certain 
distance during the journey, and never encamped nearer 
to the Princess than was strictly necessary for her safe- 
guard, here rode in splendid cavalcade through the city, 
and distributed the most costly presents to the crowd. 
Engines were erected in all the squares, which cast forth 
showers of confectionary among the people ; while the 
artisans, in chariots f adorned with tinsel and flying 
streamers, exhibited the badges of their respective trades 

* See Sale's Koran, note, vol. ii. p. 484. 
f Oriental Tales. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



193 



through the streets. Such brilliant displays of life and 
pageantry among the palaces, and domes, and gilded 
minarets of Lahore, made the city altogether like a place 
of enchantment ; — particularly on the day when Lalla 
Rookh set out again upon her journey, when she was 
accompanied to the gate by all the fairest and richest 
of the nobility, and rode along between ranks of beau- 
tiful boys ' and girls, who kept waving over their heads 
plates of gold and silver flowers *, and then threw them 
around to be gathered by the populace. 

For many days after their departure from Lahore, a 
considerable degree of gloom hung over the whole party. 
Lalla Kookh, who had intended to make illness her 
excuse for not admitting the young minstrel, as usual, to 
the pavilion, soon found that to feign indisposition was 
unnecessary; — Fadladeen felt the loss of the good 
road they had hitherto travelled, and was very near 



* Ferishta. " Or rather," says Scott, upon the passage of Fe- 
rishta, from which this is taken, " small coins, stamped with the 
figure of a flower. They are still used in India to distribute in 
charity, and, on occasion, thrown by the purse-bearers of the great 
among the populace." 



194 LALLA ROOKH. 



cursing Jehan-Guire (of blessed memory !) for not having 
continued his delectable alley of trees*, at least as far 
as the mountains of Cashmere ; — while the Ladies, who 
had nothing now to do all day but to be fanned by 
peacocks' feathers and listen to Fadladeen, seemed 
heartily weary of the life they led, and, in spite of all 
the Great Chamberlain's criticisms, were so tasteless as 
to wish for the poet again. One evening, as they were 
proceeding to their place of rest for the night, the 
Princess, who, for the freer enjoyment of the air, had 
mounted her favourite Arabian palfrey, in passing by a 
small grove heard the notes of a lute from within its 
leaves, and a voice, which she but too well knew, singing 
the following words : — 



Tell me not of joys above, 
If that world can give no bliss, 



* The fine road made by the Emperor Jehan-Guire from Agra 
to Lahore, planted with trees on each side. This road is 250 
leagues in length. It has " little pyramids or turrets," says Bernier, 
" erected every half league, to mark the ways, and frequent wells 
to afford drink to passengers, and to water the young trees." 



LALLA ROOKH. 



195 



Truer, happier than the Love 
Which enslaves our souls in this. 

Tell me not of Houris' eyes ; — 

Far from me their dangerous glow, - 

If those looks that light the skies 
Wound like some that burn below. 

Who, that feels what Love is here, 
All its falsehood — all its pain — 

Would, for ev'n Elysium's sphere, 
Risk the fatal dream again? 

Who, that midst a desert's heat 
Sees the waters fade away, 

Would not rather die than meet 
Streams again as false as they ? 



The tone of melancholy defiance in which these words 
were uttered, went to Lalla Eookh's heart; — and, 
as she reluctantly rode on, she could not help feeling 
it to be a sad but still sweet certainty, that Fera- 



196 LALLA ROOKH. 



morz was to the full as enamoured and miserable as 
herself. 

The place where they encamped that evening was the 
first delightful spot they had come to since they left 
Lahore. On one side of them was a grove full of small 
Hindoo temples, and planted with the most graceful trees 
of the East ; where the tamarind, the cassia, and the 
silken plantains of Ceylon were mingled in rich contrast 
with the high fanlike foliage of the Palmyra, — that 
favourite tree of the luxurious bird that lights up the 
chambers of its nest with fire-flies.* In the middle of 
the lawn where the pavilion stood there was a tank sur- 
rounded by small mangoe-trees, on the clear cold waters 
of which floated multitudes of the beautiful red lotus f ; 
while at a distance stood the ruins of a strange and 
awful-looking tower, which seemed old enough to have 



* The Baya, or Indian Gross-beak. — Sir W. Jones. 

| " Here is a large pagoda by a tank, on the water of which 
float multitudes of the beautiful red lotus : the flower is larger 
than that of the white water-lily, and is the most lovely of the 
nymphgeas I have seen." — Mrs. Graham's Journal of a Residence 
in India. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



197 



been the temple of some religion no longer known, and 
which spoke the voice of desolation in the midst of all 
that bloom and loveliness. This singular ruin excited 
the wonder and conjectures of all. Lalla Rookh 
guessed in vain, and the all-pretending Fadladeen, 
who had never till this journey been beyond the pre- 
cincts of Delhi, was proceeding most learnedly to show 
that he knew nothing whatever about the matter, when 
one of the Ladies suggested that perhaps Feramorz 
could satisfy their curiosity. They were now ap- 
proaching his native mountains, and this tower might 
perhaps be a relic of some of those dark superstitions, 
which had prevailed in that country before the light of 
Islam dawned upon it. The Chamberlain, who usually 
preferred his own ignorance to the best knowledge that 
any one else could give him, was by no means pleased 
with this officious reference; and the Princess, too, 
was about to interpose a faint word of objection, but, 
before either of them could speak, a slave was de- 
spatched for Feramoez, who, in a very few minutes, 
made his appearance before them — looking so pale 
and unhappy in Lalla Rookh's eyes, that she re- 



198 LALLA ROOKH. 



pented already of her cruelty in having so long ex- 
cluded him. 

That venerable tower, he told them, was the remains 
of an ancient Fire-Temple, built by those Ghebers or 
Persians of the old religion, who, many hundred years 
since, had fled hither from their Arab conquerors*, 
preferring liberty and their altars in a foreign land to 
the alternative of apostasy or persecution in their own. 
It was impossible, he added, not to feel interested in 
the many glorious but unsuccessful struggles, which had 
been made by these original natives of Persia to cast off 
the yoke of their bigoted conquerors. Like their own 
Fire in the Burning Field at Bakouf, when suppressed 
in one place, they had but broken out with fresh flame 
in another ; and, as a native of Cashmere, of that fair 
and Holy Valley, which had in the same manner become 



* " On les voit persecutes par les Khalifes se retirer dans les 
montagnes du Kerman : plusieurs choisirent pour retraite la Tar- 
tarie et la Chine ; d'autres s'arreterent sur les bords du Gange, a 
Test de Delhi." — M. Anquetil, Memo-ires de l'Academie, torn. xxxi. 
p. 346. 

| The " Ager ardens" described by Kempfer, Amcenitat. Exot. 



the prey of strangers*, and seen her ancient shrines 
and native princes swept away before the march of her 
intolerant invaders, he felt a sympathy, he owned, with 
the sufferings of the persecuted Ghebers, which every 
monument like this before them but tended more pow- 
erfully to awaken. 

It was the first time that Feramorz had ever ven- 
tured upon so much prose before Fadladeen, and 
it may easily be conceived what effect such prose as 
this must have produced upon that most orthodox and 
most pagan-hating personage. He sat for some mi- 
nutes aghast, ejaculating only at intervals, "Bigoted 
conquerors ! — sympathy with Fire-worshippers ! " f — 
while Feramorz, happy to take advantage of this 



* " Cashmere (says its historians) had its own princes 4000 
years before its conquest by Akbar in 1585. Akbar would have 
found some difficulty to reduce this paradise of the Indies, situated 
as it is within such a fortress of mountains, but its monarch, Yusef- 
Khan, was basely betrayed by his Omrahs." — Pennant 

f Voltaire tells us that in his Tragedy, " Les Guebres," he was 
generally supposed to have alluded to the Jansenists. I should not 
be surprised if this story of the Fire-worshippers were found 
capable of a similar doubleness of application. 



200 LALLA ROOKH. 



almost speechless horror of the Chamberlain, pro- 
ceeded to say that he knew a melancholy story, con- 
nected with the events of one of those struggles of 
the brave Fire-worshippers against their Arab masters, 
which, if the evening was not too far advanced, he 
should have much pleasure in being allowed to relate 
to the Princess. It was impossible for Lalla Rookh 
to refuse; — he had never before looked half so ani- 
mated; and when he spoke of the Holy Valley his 
eyes had sparkled, she thought, like the talismanic 
characters on the scimitar of Solomon. Her consent 
was therefore most readily granted ; and while Fad- 
ladeen sat in unspeakable dismay, expecting treason 
and abomination in every line, the poet thus began 
his story of the Fire-worshippers : — 



201 



THE FIRE-WORSHIPPERS 



'Tis moonlight over Oman's Sea ; * 

Her banks of pearl and palmy isles 
Bask in the night-beam beauteously, 

And her blue waters sleep in smiles. 
'Tis moonlight in HAKMOZiA'sf walls, 
And through her Emik's porphyry halls, 
Where, some hours since, was heard the swell 
Of trumpet and the clash of zel, | 
Bidding the bright-eyed sun farewell ; — 



* The Persian Gulf, sometimes so called, which separates the 
shores of Persia and Arabia. 

•f" The present Gombaroon, a town on the Persian side of the 
Gulf. 

| A Moorish instrument of music. 



202 LALLA ROOKH. 



The peaceful sun, whom better suits 

The music of the bulbul's nest, 
Or the light touch of lovers' lutes, 

To sing him to his golden rest. 
All hush'd — there's not a breeze in motion; 
The shore is silent as the ocean. 
If zephyrs come, so light they come, 

Nor leaf is stirr'd nor wave is driven ; — 
The wind-tower on the Emir's dome* 

Can hardly win a breath from heaven. 

Ev'n he, that tyrant Arab, sleeps 
Calm, while a nation round him weeps ; 
While curses load the air he breathes, 
And falchions from unnumber'd sheaths 
Are starting to avenge the shame 
His race hath brought on Iran's t name. 



* " At Gombaroon and other places in Persia, they have towers 
for the purpose of catching the wind, and cooling the houses." — 
Le Bruyn. 

■f " Iran is the true general name for the empire of Persia." — 
Asiat. Res. Disc. 5. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 



203 



Hard, heartless Chief, unmov'd alike 

Mid eyes that weep, and swords that strike ; — 

One of that saintly, murderous brood, 

To carnage and the Koran given, 
Who think through unbelievers' blood 

Lies their directest path to heaven ; — 
One, who will pause and kneel unshod 

In the warm blood his hand hath pour'd, 
To mutter o'er some text of God 

Engraven on his reeking sword; — * 
Nay, who can coolly note the line, 
The letter of those words divine, 
To which his blade, with searching art, 
Had sunk into its victim's heart ! 

Just Alla ! what must be thy look, 
When such a wretch before thee stands 

Unblushing, with thy Sacred Book, — 

Turning the leaves with blood-stain'd hands, 



* " On the blades of their scimitars some verse from the Koran 
is usually inscribed." — Russel. 



204 LALLA ROOKH. 



And wresting from its page sublime 

His creed of lust, and hate, and crime ; — 

Ev'n as those bees of Trebizond, 

Which, from the sunniest flowers that glad 
With their pure smile the gardens round, 

Draw venom forth that drives men mad.* 

Never did fierce Arabia send 

A satrap forth more direly great ; 
Never was Iran doom'd to bend 

Beneath a yoke of deadlier weight. 
Her throne had falFn — her pride was crush'd — 
Her sons were willing slaves, nor blush'd, 
In their own land, — no more their own, — 
To crouch beneath a stranger's throne. 
Her towers, where Mithra once had burn'd, 
To Moslem shrines — oh shame ! — were turn'd, 
Where slaves, converted by the sword, 



* " There is a kind of Rhododendros about Trebizond, whose 
flowers the bee feeds upon, and the honey thence drives people 
mad." — Tournefort. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 



205 



Their mean, apostate worship pour'd, 

And curs'd the faith their sires ador'd. 

Yet has she hearts, mid all this ill, 

O'er all this wreck high buoyant still 

With hope and vengeance; — hearts that yet — 

Like gems, in darkness, issuing rays 
They've treasur'd from the sun that's set, — 

Beam all the light of long-lost days ! 
And swords she hath, nor weak nor slow 

To second all such hearts can dare ; 
As he shall know, well, dearly know, 

Who sleeps in moonlight luxury there, 
Tranquil as if his spirit lay 
Becalm'd in Heaven's approving ray. 
Sleep on — for purer eyes than thine 
Those waves are hush'd, those planets shine ; 
Sleep on, and be thy rest unmov'd 

By the white moonbeam's dazzling power ; — 
None but the loving and the lov'd 

Should be awake at this sweet hour. 



206 LALLA ROOKH. 



And see — where, high above those rocks 
That o'er the deep their shadows fling, 
Yon turret stands ; — where ebon locks, 
As glossy as a heron's wing 
Upon the turban of a king,* 
Hang from the lattice, long and wild, — 
'Tis she, that Emir's blooming child, 
All truth and tenderness and grace, 
Though born of such ungentle race ; — 
An image of Youth's radiant Fountain 
Springing in a desolate mountain ! | 

Oh what a pure and sacred thing 
Is Beauty, curtain'd from the sight 

Of the gross world, illumining 

One only mansion with her light ! 

Unseen by man's disturbing eye, — 

The flower that blooms beneath the sea, 



* " Their kings wear plumes of black herons' feathers upon the 
right side, as a badge of sovereignty." — Hanway. 

f " The Fountain of Youth, by a Mahometan tradition, is 
situated in some dark region of the East." — Richardson. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 



207 



Too deep for sunbeams, doth not lie 
Hid in more chaste obscurity. 

So, Hinda, have thy face and mind, 

Like holy mysteries, lain enshrin'd. 

And oh, what transport for a lover 
To lift the veil that shades them o'er ! 

Like those who, all at once, discover 
In the lone deep some fairy shore, 
Where mortal never trod before, 

And sleep and wake in scented airs 

No lip had ever breath'd but theirs. 



Beautiful are the maids that glide, 

On summer-eves, through Yemen's* dales, 

And bright the glancing looks they hide 
Behind their litters' roseate veils ; — 

And brides, as delicate and fair 

As the white jasmine flowers they wear, 

Hath Yemen in her blissful clime, 
Who, lull'd in cool kiosk or bower, f 

* Arabia Felix. 

f " In the midst of the garden is the chiosk, that is, a large 
room, commonly beautified with a fine fountain in the midst of it. 



208 LALLA ROOKH. 



Before their mirrors count the time, * 
And grow still lovelier every hour. 

But never yet hath bride or maid 
In Aeaby's gay Haram smil'd, 

Whose boasted brightness would not fade 
Before Al Hassan's blooming child. 

Light as the angel shapes that bless 
An infant's dream, yet not the less 
Rich in all woman's loveliness ; — 

It is raised nine or ten steps, and inclosed with gilded lattices, 
round which vines, jessamines, and honeysuckles, make a sort of 
green wall ; large trees are planted round this place, which is the 
scene of their greatest pleasures." — Lady M. W. Montagu. 

* The women of the East are never without their looking- 
glasses. " In Barbary," says Shaw, " they are so fond of their 
looking-glasses, which they hang upon their breasts, that they will 
not lay them aside, even when after the drudgery of the day they 
are obliged to go two or three miles with a pitcher or a goat's skin 
to fetch water." — Travels. 

In other parts of Asia they wear little looking-glasses on then- 
thumbs. " Hence (and from the lotus being considered the emblem 
of beauty) is the meaning of the following mute intercourse of two 
lovers before their parents : — 

" ' He with salute of deference due, 
A lotus to his forehead prest ; 
She rais'd her mirror to his view, 

Then turn'd it inward to her breast.' " 

Asiatic Miscellany, vol. ii. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 



209 



With eyes so pure, that from their ray 
Dark Vice would turn abash'd away, 
Blinded like serpents, when they gaze 
Upon the emerald's virgin blaze ; — * 
Yet fill'd with all youth's sweet desires, 
Mingling the meek and vestal fires 
Of other worlds with all the bliss, 
The fond, weak tenderness of this : 
A soul, too, more than half divine, 

Where, through some shades of earthly feeling, 
Religion's soften'd glories shine, 

Like light through summer foliage stealing, 
Shedding a glow of such mild hue, 
So warm, and yet so shadowy too, 
As makes the very darkness there 
More beautiful than light elsewhere. 

Such is the maid who, at this hour, 
Hath risen from her restless sleep, 



* " They say that if a snake or serpent fix his eyes on the lustre 
of those stones (emeralds), he immediately becomes blind." — 
Ahmed ben Abdalaziz, Treatise on Jewels. 



210 LALLA ROOKH. 



And sits alone in that high bower, 

Watching the still and shining deep. 
Ah ! 'twas not thus, — with tearful eyes 

And beating heart, — she us'd to gaze 
On the magnificent earth and skies, 

In her own land, in happier days. 
Why looks she now so anxious down 
Among those rocks, whose rugged frown 

Blackens the mirror of the deep ? 
Whom waits she all this lonely night ? 

Too rough the rocks, too bold the steep, 
For man to scale that turret's height ! — 

So deem'd at least her thoughtful sire, 
When high, to catch the cool night-air, 

After the day-beam's withering fire,* 
He built her bower of freshness there, 

And had it deck'd with costliest skill, 
And fondly thought it safe as fair : — 



* " At Gombaroon and the Isle of Ormus, it is sometimes so hot, 
that the people are obliged to lie all day in the water." — Marco 
Polo. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 



211 



Think, reverend dreamer ! think so still, 

Nor wake to learn what Love can dare ; — 
Love, all-defying Love, who sees 
No charm in trophies won with ease ; — 
Whose rarest, dearest fruits of bliss 
Are pluck'd on Danger's precipice ! 
Bolder than they, who dare not dive 

For pearls, but when the sea's at rest, 
Love, in the tempest most alive, 

Hath ever held that pearl the best 
He finds beneath the stormiest water. 
Yes — Araby's unrivall'd daughter, 
Though high that tower, that rock-way rude, 

There's one who, but to kiss thy cheek, 
Would climb the' untrodden solitude 

Of Ararat's tremendous peak, * 



* This mountain is generally supposed to be inaccessible. Struy 
says, "I can well assure the reader that their opinion is not true, 
who suppose this mount to be inaccessible." He adds, that " the 
lower part of the mountain is cloudy, misty, and dark, the middle- 
most part very cold, and like clouds of snow, but the upper regions 
perfectly calm." — It was on this mountain that the Ark was sup- 
posed to have rested after the Deluge, and part of it, they say, 
exists there still, which Struy thus gravely accounts for : — " Whereas 



212 LALLA ROOKH. 



And think its steeps, though dark and dread, 
Heaven's pathways, if to thee they led ! 
Ev'n now thou seest the flashing spray, 
That lights his oar's impatient way ; — 
Ev'n now thou hear'st the sudden shock 
Of his swift bark against the rock, 
And stretchest down thy arms of snow, 
As if to lift him from below ! 
Like her to whom, at dead of night, 
The bridegroom, with his locks of light, * 
Came, in the flush of love and pride, 
And scal'd the terrace of his bride ; — 
When, as she saw him rashly spring, 
And midway up in danger cling, 



none can remember that the air on the top of the hill did ever 
change or was subject either to wind or rain, which is presumed to 
be the reason that the Ark has endured so long without being- 
rotten." — See Carreris Travels, where the Doctor laughs at this 
whole account of Mount Ararat. 

* In one of the books of the Shah Narneh, when Zal (a cele- 
brated hero of Persia, remarkable for his white hair,) comes to the 
terrace of his mistress Rodahver at night, she lets down her long- 
tresses to assist him in his ascent; — he, however, manages it in a 
less romantic way by fixing his crook in a projecting beam. — See 
Champion's Ferdosi. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 



213 



She flung him down her long black hair, 
Exclaiming, breathless, " There, love, there ! " 
And scarce did manlier nerve uphold 

The hero Zal in that fond hour, 
Than wings the youth who, fleet and bold, 

Now climbs the rocks to Hinda's bower. 
See — light as up their granite steeps 

The rock-goats of Arabia clamber,* 
Fearless from crag to crag he leaps, 

And now is in the maiden's chamber. 



She loves — but knows not whom she loves, 
Nor what his race, nor whence he came ; — 

Like one who meets, in Indian groves, 
Some beauteous bird without a name, 

Brought by the last ambrosial breeze, 

From isles in the' undiscover'd seas, 

To show his plumage for a day 

To wondering eyes, and wing away ! 

Will he thus fly — her nameless lover? 
Alla forbid ! 'twas by a moon 

On the lofty hills of Arabia Petrsea are rock-goats." — Niebuhr, 



214 LALLA ROOKH. 



As fair as this, while singing over 

Some ditty to her soft Kanoon,* 
Alone, at this same witching hour, 

She first beheld his radiant eyes 
Gleam through the lattice of the bower, • 

Where nightly now they mix their sighs ; 
And thought some spirit of the air 
(For what could waft a mortal there ?) 
Was pausing on his moonlight way 
To listen to her lonely lay ! 
This fancy ne'er hath left her mind : 

And — though, when terror's swoon had past, 
She saw a youth, of mortal kind, 

Before her in obeisance cast, — 
Yet often since, when he hath spoken 
Strange, awful words, — and gleams have broken 
From his dark eyes, too bright to bear, 

Oh ! she hath fear'd her soul was given 



* " Canun, espece de psalterion, avec des cordes de boyaux ; les 
dames en touchent dans le serail, avec des decailles armees de 
pointes de cooc." — Toderini, translated by De Cournand. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 



215 



To some unhallow'd child of air, 

Some erring Spirit cast from heaven, 
Like those angelic youths of old, 
Who burn'd for maids of mortal mould, 
Bewilder'd left the glorious skies, 
And lost their heaven for woman's eyes. 
Fond girl ! nor fiend nor angel he 
Who woos thy young simplicity ; 
But one of earth's impassion'd sons, 
As warm in love, as fierce in ire 
As the best heart whose current runs 
Full of the Day- God's living fire. 



But quench'd to-night that ardour seems, 
And pale his cheek, and sunk his brow ; 

Never before, but in her dreams, 
Had she beheld him pale as now: 

And those were dreams of troubled sleep, 

From which 'twas joy to wake and weep; 

Visions, that will not be forgot, 
But sadden every waking scene, 



216 LALLA ROOKH. 



Like warning ghosts, that leave the spot 
All wither'd where they once have been. 

" How sweetly," said the trembling maid, 

Of her own gentle voice afraid. 

So long had they in silence stood, 

Looking upon that tranquil flood — 

" How sweetly does the moon-beam smile 

" To-night upon yon leafy isle ! 

" Oft, in my fancy's wanderings, 

" I've wish'd that little isle had wings, 

" And we, within its fairy bowers, 

« Were wafted off to seas unknown, 
" Where not a pulse should beat but ours, 

" And we might live, love, die alone ! 
" Far from the cruel and the cold, — 

" Where the bright eyes of angels only 
" Should come around us, to behold 

" A paradise so pure and lonely. 
" Would this be world enough for thee ? " - 
Playful she turn'd, that he might see 

The passing smile her cheek put on ; 




FF.StephcowiT. 



~Mcr 3x earns '."have "boded, all -too Tiolrl — 
"We part — fox ever -part— to xjipxrt] 
I Vn fiir. I loxe-w it could mot last — 
' Twas "hrifeh-t. , '-twas lxea\n;xi"ly~-, "brut 'lis past! 






1'iJ'lijJuy] byTsiihmim)..fl>-!!tt*]}r,n\-n Irrem S\ Zoiumians Pnienwslef A J 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 217 



But when she mark'd how mournfully 

His eyes met hers, that smile was gone ; 
And, bursting into heart-felt tears, 
" Yes, yes," she cried, " my hourly fears, 
" My dreams have boded all too right — 
" We part — for ever part — to-night ! 
" I knew, I knew it could not last — 
" 'Twas bright, 'twas heavenly, but 'tis past ! 
" Oh ! ever thus, from childhood's hour, 
" I've seen my fondest hopes decay ; 
" I never lov'd a tree or flower, 

" But 'twas the first to fade away. 
" I never nurs'd a dear gazelle, 

" To glad me with its soft black eye, 
" But when it came to know me well, 

" And love me, it was sure to die ! 
" Now too — the joy most like divine 

" Of all I ever dreamt or knew, 
" To see thee, hear thee, call thee mine, — 

" Oh misery ! must I lose that too ? 
" Yet go — on peril's brink we meet ; — 

" Those frightful rocks — that treacherous sea- 



218 LALLA ROOKH. 



" No, never come again — though sweet, 
" Though heaven, it may be death to thee. 

" Farewell — and blessings on thy way, 
" Where'er thou go'st, beloved stranger ! 

" Better to sit and watch that ray, 

" And think thee safe, though far away, 
" Than have thee near me, and in danger ! " 

" Danger ! — oh, tempt me not to boast — " 
The youth exclaim'd — "thou little know'st 
" What he can brave, who, born and nurst 
" In Danger's paths, has dar'd her worst ; 
" Upon whose ear the signal word 

" Of strife and death is hourly breaking ; 
" Who sleeps with head upon the sword 

" His fever'd hand must grasp in waking. 
"Danger!—" 

" Say on — thou fear'st not then, 
" And we may meet — oft meet again?" 

" Oh! look not so — beneath the skies 
" I now fear nothing but those eyes. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 



219 



If aught on earth could charm or force 

My spirit from its destin'd course, — 

If aught could make this soul forget 

The bond to which its seal is set, 

'Twould be those eyes; — they, only they, 

Could melt that sacred seal away ! 

But no — 'tis fix'd — my awful doom 

Is fix'd — on this side of the tomb 

We meet no more; — why, why did Heaven 

Mingle two souls that earth has riven, 

Has rent asunder wide as ours ? 

Oh, Arab maid, as soon the Powers 

Of Light and Darkness may combine, 

As I be link'd with thee or thine ! 

Thy Father " 

" Holy Alla save 
His grey head from that lightning glance ! 
Thou know'st him not — he loves the brave; 
" Nor lives there under heaven's expanse 
One who would prize, would worship thee 
And thy bold spirit, more than he. 



220 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Oft when, in childhood, I have play'd 

" With the bright falchion by his side, 
" I've heard him swear his lisping maid 

" In time should be a warrior's bride. 
" And still, whene'er at Haram hours 
" I take him cool sherbets and flowers, 
" He tells me, when in playful mood, 

" A hero shall my bridegroom be, 
" Since maids are best in battle woo'd, 

" And won with shouts of victory ! 
" Nay, turn not from me — thou alone 
" Art form'd to make both hearts thy own. 
" Go — join his sacred ranks — thou know'st 

" The' unholy strife these Persians wage : — 
" Good Heaven, that frown! — ev'n now thou glow'st 

" With more than mortal warrior's rage. 
" Haste to the camp by morning's light, 
" And, when that sword is rais'd in fight, 
" Oh still remember, Love and I 
" Beneath its shadow trembling lie ! 
" One victory o'er those Slaves of Fire, 
" Those impious Ghebers, whom my sire 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 



221 



Abhors ■ 



" Hold, hold — thy words are death — " 

The stranger cried, as wild he flung 
His mantle back, and show'd beneath 

The Gheber belt that round him clung. — * 
" Here, maiden, look — weep — blush to see 
" All that thy sire abhors in me ! 
" Yes — Jam of that impious race, 

" Those Slaves of Fire who, morn and even, 
" Hail their Creator's dwelling-place 

" Among the living lights of heaven : f 



* " They (the Ghebers) lay so much stress on their cushee or 
girdle, as not to dare to be an instant without it." — Grose's, 
Voyage. — "Le jeune homme nia d'abord la chose; mais, ayant 
ete depouille de sa robe, et la large ceinture qu'il portoit comme 
Grhebr," &c. &c. — D'Herbelot, art. Agduani. "Pour se distinguer 
des Idolatres de l'lnde, les Guebres se ceignent tous d'un cordon 
de laine, ou de poil de chanieau." — Encyclopedie Franqoise. 

D'Herbelot says this belt was generally of leather. 

f " They suppose the Throne of the Almighty is seated in the 
sun, and hence their worship of that luminary." — Hanway. "As 
to fire, the Ghebers place the spring-head of it in that globe of fire, 
the Sun, by them called Mythras, or Mihir, to which they pay the 
highest reverence, in gratitude for the manifold benefits flowing 
from its ministerial omniscience. But they are so far from con- 
founding the subordination of the Servant with the majesty of its 
Creator, that they not only attribute no sort of sense or reasoning 



222 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Yes — / am of that outcast few, 

" To Iran and to vengeance true, 

" Who curse the hour your Arabs came 

" To desolate our shrines of flame, 

" And swear, before God's burning eye, 

" To break our country's chains, or die ! 

" Thy bigot sire, — nay, tremble not, — 

" He, who gave birth to those dear eyes, 
" With me is sacred as the spot 

" From which our fires of worship rise ! 
" But know — 'twas he I sought that night, 

" When, from my watch-boat on the sea, 
" I caught this turret's glimmering light, 

" And up the rude rocks desperately 



to the sun or fire, in any of its operations, but consider it as a 
purely passive blind instrument, directed and governed by the im- 
mediate impression on it of the will of God ; but they do not even 
give that luminary, all-glorious as it is, more than the second rank 
amongst his works, reserving the first for that stupendous produc- 
tion of divine power, the mind of man." — Grose. The false charges 
brought against the religion of these people by their Mussulman 
tyrants is but one proof among many of the truth of this writer's 
remark, that " calumny is often added to oppression, if but for the 
sake of justifying it." 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 223 

" Rush'd to niy prey — thou know'st the rest — 

" I clinib'd the gory vulture's nest, 

" And found a trembling dove within ; — 

" Thine, thine the victory — thine the sin — 

" If Love hath made one thought his own, 

" That Vengeance claims first — last — alone! 

" Oh ! had we never, never met, 

" Or could this heart ev'n now forget 

" How link'd, how bless'd we might have been, 

" Had fate not frown'd so dark between ! 

" Hadst thou been born a Persian maid, 

" In neighbouring valleys had we dwelt, 
" Through the same fields in childhood play'd, 

" At the same kindling altar knelt, — 
" Then, then, while all those nameless ties, 
" In which the charm of Country lies, 
" Had round our hearts been hourly spun, 
" Till Iran's cmise and thine were one ; 
" While in thy lute's awakening sigh 
" I heard the voice of days gone by, 
" And saw, in every smile of thine, 
" Returning hours of glory shine ; — 



224 LALLA ROOKH. 


" While the wrong'd Spirit of our Land 


" Liv'd, look'd, and spoke her wrongs through 


thee, — 


" God ! who could then this sword withstand ? 


" Its very flash were victory ! 


" But now — estrang'd, divorc'd for ever, 


" Far as the grasp of Fate can sever ; 


" Our only ties what love has wove, — 


" In faith, friends, country, sunder 'd wide ; 


" And then, then only, true to love, 


" When false to all that's dear beside ! 


" Thy father Iran's deadliest foe — 


" Thyself, perhaps, ev'n now — but no — 


" Hate never look'd so lovely yet ! 


" No — sacred to thy soul will be 


" The land of him who could forget 


" All but that bleeding land for thee. 


" When other eyes shall see, unmov'd, 


" Her widows mourn, her warriors fall, 


" Thou'lt think how well one Grheber lov'd, 


" And for his sake thou'lt weep for all ! 


" But look 




Pierc - 

.\k'd. — "bin from, the la.tti.ce Iropp'd 
Dovm. mid tJ ath. 

As if lie fled, from love to death.. 



■ 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 225 

With sudden start he turn'd 
And pointed to the distant wave, 
Where lights, like charnel meteors, burn'd 

Bluely, as o'er some seaman's grave ; 
And fiery darts, at intervals,* 

Flew up all sparkling from the main, 
As if each star that nightly falls, 

Were shooting back to heaven again. 

" My signal lights ! — I must away — 

" Both, both are ruin'd, if I stay. 

" Farewell — sweet life ! thou cling'st in vain — 

" Now, Vengeance, I am thine again ! " 

Fiercely he broke away, nor stopp'd, 

Nor look'd — but from the lattice dropp'd 

Down mid the pointed crags beneath, 

As if he fled from love to death. 

While pale and mute young Hind a stood, 

Nor mov'd, till in the silent flood 



* " The Mameluks that were in the other boat, when it was 
dark used to shoot up a sort of fiery arrows into the air which in 
some measure resembled lightning or falling stars." — Baumgarten. 



226 LALLA ROOKH. 



A momentary plunge below 

Startled her from her trance of woe ; — 

Shrieking she to the lattice flew, 

" I come — I come — if in that tide 
" Thou sleep'st to-night, I'll sleep there too, 

" In death's cold wedlock, by thy side. 
" Oh ! I would ask no happier bed 

" Than the chill wave my love lies under : 
" Sweeter to rest together dead, 

" Far sweeter, than to live asunder ! " 
But no — their hour is not yet come — 

Again she sees his pinnace fly, 
Wafting him fleetly to his home, 

Where'er that ill-starr'd home may lie ; 
And calm and smooth it seem'd to win 

Its moonlight way before the wind, 
As if it bore all peace within, 

Nor left one breaking heart behind ! 



LALLA ROOKH. 227 



The Princess, whose heart was sad enough already, 
could have wished that Feramorz had chosen a less 
melancholy story ; as it is only to the happy that tears 
are a luxury. Her Ladies, however, were by no means 
sorry that love was once more the Poet's theme ; for, 
whenever he spoke of love, they said, his voice was as 
sweet as if he had chewed the leaves of that enchanted 
tree, which grows over the tomb of the musician, Tan- 



Their road all the morning had lain through a very 
dreary country ; — through valleys, covered with a low 



* " Within the enclosure which surrounds this monument (at 
Gualior) is a small tomb to the memory of Tan-Sein, a musician of 
incomparable skill, who nourished at the court of Akbar. The 
tomb is overshadowed by a tree, concerning which a superstitious 
notion prevails, that the chewing of its leaves will give an extraor- 
dinary melody to the voice." — Narrative of a Journey from Agra 
to Ouzein, by W. Hunter, Esq. 



228 LALLA ROOKH. 



bushy jungle, where, in more than one place, the awful 
signal of the bamboo staff*, with the white flag at its 
top, reminded the traveller that, in that very spot, the 
tiger had made some human creature his victim. It 
was, therefore, with much pleasure that they arrived at 
sunset in a safe and lovely glen, and encamped under 
one of those holy trees, whose smooth columns and 
spreading roofs seem to destine them for natural temples 
of religion. Beneath this spacious shade, some pious 
hands had erected a row of pillars ornamented with the 
most beautiful porcelain f, which now supplied the use 

* " It is usual to place a small white triangular flag, fixed to a 
bamboo staff of ten or twelve feet long, at the place where a tiger 
has destroyed a man. It is common for the passengers also to throw 
each a stone or brick near the spot, so that in the course of a little 
time a pile equal to a good waggon-load is collected. The sight of 
these flags and piles of stones imparts a certain melancholy, not 
perhaps altogether void of apprehension." — Oriental Field Sports, 
vol. ii. 

■f " The Ficus Indica is called the Pagod Tree and Tree of 
Councils ; the first, from the idols placed under its shade ; the se- 
cond, because meetings were held under its cool branches. In some 
places it is believed to be the haunt of spectres, as the ancient 
spreading oaks of Wales have been of fairies ; in others are erected 
beneath the shade pillars of stone, or posts, elegantly carved, and 
ornamented with the most beautiful porcelain to supply the use of 
mirrors ." — Pennant. 



LALLA ROOKH. 229 



of mirrors to the young maidens, as they adjusted their 
hair in descending from the palankeens. Here, while, 
as usual, the Princess sat listening anxiously, with 
Fadladeen in one of his loftiest moods of criticism by 
her side, the young Poet, leaning against a branch of 
the tree, thus continued his story : — 



The morn hath risen clear and calm, 

And o'er the Green Sea* palely shines, 
Revealing Bahrein's f groves of palm, 

And lighting Kishma's| amber vines. 
Fresh smell the shores of Araby, 
While breezes from the Indian sea 
Blow round Selama'sJ sainted cape, 

And curl the shining flood beneath, — 
Whose waves are rich with many a grape, 

And cocoa-nut and flowery wreath, 
Which pious seamen, as they pass'd, 
Had tow'rd that holy headland cast — 



* The Persian Gulf. — " To dive for pearls in the Green Sea, or 
Persian Gulf." — Sir W. Jones. 

f Islands in the Gulf. 

| Or Selemeh, the genuine name of the headland at the entrance 
of the Gulf, commonly called Cape Musseldom. "The Indians, 
when they pass the promontory, throw cocoa-nuts, fruits, or flowers, 
into the sea, to secure a propitious voyage." — Morier, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 231 

Oblations to the Genii there 
For gentle skies and breezes fair ! 
The nightingale now bends her flight* 
From the high trees, where all the night 

She sung so sweet, with none to listen ; 
And hides her from the morning star 

Where thickets of pomegranate glisten 
In the clear dawn, — bespangled o'er 

With dew. whose night-drops would not stain 
The best and brightest scimitar f 
That ever youthful Sultan wore 

On the first morning of his reign. 

And see — the Sun himself! — on wings 
Of glory up the East he springs. 
Angel of Light ! who from the time 
Those heavens began their march sublime. 



* " The nightingale sings from the pomegranate groves in the 
day-time, and from the loftiest trees at night." — Mussel's Aleppo. 

f In speaking of the climate of Shiraz, Francklin says, " The 
dew is of such a pure nature, that if the brightest scimitar should 
be exposed to it all night, it would not receive the least rust." 



232 LALLA ROOKH. 



Hath first of all the starry choir 
Trod in his Maker's steps of fire ! 

Where are the days, thou wondrous sphere, 
When Iran, like a sun-flower, turn'd 
To meet that eye where'er it burn'd ? — 

When, from the banks of Bendemeer 
To the nut-groves of Samarcand, 
Thy temples flam'd o'er all the land ? 
Where are they ? ask the shades of them 

Who, on Cadessia's* bloody plains, 
Saw fierce invaders pluck the gem 
From Iran's broken diadem, 

And bind her ancient faith in chains : — 
Ask the poor exile, cast alone 
On foreign shores, unlov'd, unknown, 
Beyond the Caspian's Iron Gates, f 

Or on the snowy Mossian mountains, 



* The place where the Persians were finally defeated by the 
Arabs, and their ancient monarchy destroyed. 

f Derbend. — " Les Turcs appellent cette ville Demir Capi, 
Porte de Fer ; ce sont les Caspise Portse des anciens." — D'Her- 
belot 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 233 

Far from his beauteous land of dates, 

Her jasmine bowers and sunny fountains : 

Yet happier so than if he trod 

His own belov'd, but blighted, sod, 

Beneath a despot stranger's nod ! — 

Oh, he would rather houseless roam 

Where Freedom and his God may lead, 

Than be the sleekest slave at home 

That crouches to the conqueror's creed ! 

Is Ikan's pride then gone for ever, 

Quench'd with the flame in Mithra's caves ? — 
No — she has sons, that never — never — 
Will stoop to be the Moslem's slaves, 
While heaven has light or earth has graves ; — 
Spirits of fire, that brood not long, 
But flash resentment back for wrong ; 
And hearts where, slow but deep, the seeds 
Of vengeance ripen into deeds, 
Till, in some treacherous hour of calm, 
They burst, like Zeilan's giant palm, 



234 LALLA ROOKH. 



Whose buds fly open with a sound 
That shakes the pigmy forests round ! * 

Yes, Emir ! he, who scal'd that tower, 

And, had he reach'd thy slumbering breast, 

Had taught thee, in a Grheber's power 
How safe ev'n tyrant heads may rest — 

Is one of many, brave as he, 

Who loathe thy haughty race and thee ; ■ 

Who, though they know the strife is vain, 

Who, though they know the riven chain 

Snaps but to enter in the heart 

Of him who rends its links apart, 

Yet dare the issue, — blest to be 

Ev'n for one bleeding moment free, 

And die in pangs of liberty ! 

Thou know'st them well — 'tis some moons since 
Thy turban'd troops and blood-red flags, 

* The Talpot or Talipot-tree. " This beautiful palm-tree, which 
grows in the heart of the forests, may be classed among the loftiest 
trees, and becomes still higher when on the point of bursting forth 
from its leafy summit. The sheath which then envelopes the flower 
is very large, and, when it bursts, makes an explosion like the report 
of a cannon." — Thunberg, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 235 

Thou satrap of a bigot Prince, 

Have swarni'd among these Green Sea crags ; 
Yet here, ev'n here, a sacred band, 
Ay, in the portal of that land 
Thou, Arab, dar'st to call thy own, 
Their spears across thy path have thrown ; 
Here — ere the winds half wing'd thee o'er — 
Rebellion brav'd thee from the shore. 

Rebellion ! foul, dishonouring word, 

Whose wrongful blight so oft has stain'd 
The holiest cause that tongue or sword 

Of mortal ever lost or gain'd. 
How many a spirit, born to bless, 

Hath sunk beneath that withering name, 
Whom but a day's, an hour's success 

Had wafted to eternal fame ! 
As exhalations, when they burst 
From the warm earth, if chill'd at first. 
If check'd in soaring from the plain, 
Darken to fogs and sink again; — 



236 LALLA ROOKH. 



But, if they once triumphant spread 
Their wings above the mountain-head, 
Become enthron'd in upper air, 
And turn to sun-bright glories there ! 

And who is he, that wields the might 

Of Freedom on the Green Sea brink, 
Before whose sabre's dazzling light* 

The eyes of Yemen's warriors wink ? 
Who comes, embower'd in the spears 
Of Kerman's hardy mountaineers? — 
Those mountaineers that truest, last 

Cling to their country's ancient rites, 
As if that God, whose eyelids cast 

Their closing gleam on Iran's heights. 
Among her snowy mountains threw 
The last light of his worship too ! 

'Tis Hafed — name of fear, whose sound 
Chills like the muttering of a charm ! — 

* " When the bright cimitars make the eyes of our heroes wink." 
- The Moallakat, Poem of Amru. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 237 

Shout but that awful name around, 

And palsy shakes the manliest arm. 
'Tis Hafed, most accurs'd and dire 
(So rank'd by Moslem hate and ire) 
Of all the rebel Sons of Fire ; 
Of whose malign, tremendous power 
The Arabs, at their mid-watch hour, 
Such tales of fearful wonder tell, 
That each aifrighted sentinel 
Pulls down his cowl upon his eyes, 
Lest Hafed in the midst should rise ! 
A man, they say, of monstrous birth, 
A mingled race of name and earth, 
Sprung from those old, enchanted kings,* 

Who in their fairy helms, of yore, 
A feather from the mystic wings 

Of the Simoorgh resistless wore ; 



* Tahmuras, and other ancient Kings of Persia ; whose adven- 
tures in Fairy-land among the Peris and Dives may be found in 
Richardson's curious Dissertation. The griffin Simoorgh, they say, 
took some feathers from her breast for Tahmuras, with which he 
adorned his helmet, and transmitted them afterwards to his de- 
scendants. 



238 LALLA ROOKH. 



And gifted by the Fiends of Fire, 
Who groan'd to see their shrines expire, 
With charms that, all in vain withstood, 
Would drown the Koran's light in blood ! 

Such Avere the tales, that won belief, 

And such the colouring Fancy gave 
To a young, warm, and dauntless Chief,— 

One who, no more than mortal brave, 
Fought for the land his soul ador'd, 

For happy homes and altars free, — 
His only talisman, the sword, 

His only spell-word, Liberty ! 
One of that ancient hero line, 
Along whose glorious current shine 
Names, that have sanctified their blood ; 
As Lebanon's small mountain-flood 
Is render'd holy by the ranks 
Of sainted cedars on its banks.* 



* This rivulet, says Dandini, is called the Holy River from the 
cedar-saints" among which it rises. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 239 

'Twas not for him to crouch the knee 
Tamely to Moslem tyranny ; 
'Twas not for him, whose soul was cast 
In the bright mould of ages past, 
Whose melancholy spirit, fed 
With all the glories of the dead, 
Though fram'd for Irak's happiest years, 
Was born among her chains and tears ! — 
'Twas not for him to swell the crowd 
Of slavish heads, that shrinking bow'd 
Before the Moslem, as he pass'd, 
Like shrubs beneath the poison-blast — 
No — far he fled — indignant fled 

The pageant of his country's shame ; 
While every tear her children shed 

Fell on his soul like drops of flame ; 



In the Lettres Edifiantes, there is a different cause asigned for 
its name of Holy. " In these are deep caverns, which formerly 
served as so many cells for a great number of recluses, who had 
chosen these retreats as the only witnesses upon earth of the seve- 
rity of their penance. The tears of these pious penitents gave the 
river of which we have just treated the name of the Holy River." 
— See Chateaubriand's Beauties of Christianity. 



240 LALLA ROOKH. 



And, as a lover hails the dawn 
Of a first smile, so welcom'd he 

The sparkle of the first sword drawn 
For vengeance and for liberty ! 

But vain was valour — vain the flower 
Of Kerman, in that deathful hour, 
Against Al Hassan's whelming power. - 
In vain they met him, helm to helm, 
Upon the threshold of that realm 
He came in bigot pomp to sway, 
And with their corpses block'd his way — 
In vain — for every lance they rais'd, 
Thousands around the conqueror blaz'd ; 
For every arm that lin'd their shore, 
Myriads of slaves were wafted o'er, — 
A bloody, bold, and countless crowd, 
Before whose swarm as fast they bow'd 
As dates beneath the locust cloud. 

There stood — but one short league away 
From old Harmozia's sultry bay — 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 241 

A rocky mountain, o'er the Sea 
Of Oman beetling awfully : * 
A last and solitary link 

Of those stupendous chains that reach 
From the broad Caspian's reedy brink 

Down winding to the Green Sea beach. 
Around its base the bare rocks stood, 
Like naked giants, in the flood, 

As if to guard the Gulf across ; 
While, on its peak, that brav'd the sky, 
A ruin'd Temple tower'd, so high 

That oft the sleeping albatross f 
.Struck the wild ruins with her wing, 
And from her cloud-rock'd slumbering 

* This mountain is my own creation, as the " stupendous chain," 
of which I suppose it a link, does not extend quite so far as the 
shores of the Persian Gulf. " This long and lofty range of moun- 
tains formerly divided Media from Assyria, and now forms the 
boundary of the Persian and Turkish empires. It runs parallel with 
the river Tigris and Persian Gulf, and almost disappearing in the 
vicinity of Gomberoon (Harmozia) seems once more to rise in the 
southern districts of Kerman, and following an easterly course 
through the centre of Meckraun and Balouchistan, is entirely lost 
in the deserts of Sinde." — Kinniers Persian empire. 

f These birds sleep in the air. They are most common about 
the Cape of Good Hope. 



242 LALLA ROOKH. 



Started — to find man's dwelling there 
In her own silent fields of air ! 
Beneath, terrific caverns gave 
Dark welcome to each stormy wave 
That dash'd, like midnight revellers, in ; — 
And such the strange, mysterious din 
At times throughout those caverns roll'd, — 
And such the fearful wonders told 
Of restless sprites imprison'd there, 
That bold were Moslem, who would dare, 
At twilight hour, to steer his skiff 
Beneath the Gheber's lonely cliff.* 

On the land side, those towers sublime, 
That seem'd above the grasp of Time, 
Were sever'd from the haunts of men 
By a wide, deep, and wizard glen, 

* " There is an extraordinary hill in this neighbourhood, called 
Kohe Gubr, or the Guebre's mountain. It rises in the form of a 
lofty cupola, and on the summit of it, they say, are the remains of 
an Atush Kudu, or Fire-Temple. It is superstitiously held to be the 
residence of Deeves or Sprites, and many marvellous stories are re- 
counted of the injury and witchcraft suffered by those who essayed 
in former days to ascend or explore it." — Pottingers Beloochistan. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 243 

So fathomless, so full of gloom, 

No eye could pierce the void between : 
It seem'd a place where Grholes might come 
With their foul banquets from the tomb, 

And in its caverns feed unseen. 
Like distant thunder, from below, 

The sound of many torrents came, 
Too deep for eye or ear to know 
If 'twere the sea's imprison'd flow, 

Or floods of ever-restless flame. 
For, each ravine, each rocky spire 
Of that vast mountain stood on fire ; * 
And, though for ever past the days 
When God was worshipp'd in the blaze 
That from its lofty altar shone, — 
Though fled the priests, the votaries gone, 
Still did the mighty flame burn on, f 

* The Gbebers generally built their temples over subterraneous 
fires. 

f " At the city of Yezd, in Persia, which is distinguished by the 
appellation of the Darub Abadut, or Seat of Keligion, the Guebres 
are permitted to have an Atush Kudu, or Fire-Temple, (which, they 
assert, has had the sacred fire in it since the days of Zoroaster,) in 
their own compartment of the city ; but for this indulgence they 



244 LALLA ROOKH. 



Through chance and change, through good and ill, 
Like its own God's eternal will, 
Deep, constant, bright, unquenchable ! 

Thither the vanquish'd Hafed led 

His little army's last remains ; — 
" Welcome, terrific glen ! " he said, 
" Thy gloom, that Eblis' self might dread, 

" Is Heaven to him who flies from chains ! " 
O'er a dark, narrow bridge-way, known 
To him and to his Chiefs alone, 
They cross'd the chasm and gain'd the towers, — 
" This home," he cried, " at least is ours ; — 
" Here we may bleed, unmock'd by hymns 

" Of Moslem triumph o'er our head ; 
" Here we may fall, nor leave our limbs 

" To quiver to the Moslem's tread. 
" Stretch'd on this rock, while vultures' beaks 
" Are whetted on our yet warm cheeks, 



are indebted to the avarice, not the tolerance, of the Persian govern- 
ment, which taxes them at twenty-five rupees each man." — Pottin- 
gers Beloochistan. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 245 

" Here -7- happy that no tyrant's eye 

" Gloats on our torments — we may die !" — 

'Twas night when to those towers they came, 

And gloomily the fitful flame, 

That from the ruin'd altar broke, 

Glar'd on his features, as he spoke : — 

" 'Tis o'er — what men could do, we've done — 

" If Iran will look tamely on, 

" And see her priests, her warriors driven 

" Before a sensual bigot's nod, 
" A wretch who shrines his lusts in heaven, 

" And makes a pander of his God ; 
" If her proud sons, her high-born souls, 

" Men, in whose veins — oh last disgrace ! 
" The blood of Zal and Kustam* rolls, — 

" If they will court this upstart race, 
" And turn from Mithra's ancient ray, 
" To kneel at shrines of yesterday ; 



* Ancient heroes of Persia. " Among the Guebres there are 
some, who boast their descent from Kustam." — Stephen's Persia. 



246 LALLA ROOKH. 



" If they toill crouch to Iran's foes, 

" Why, let them — till the land's despair 
" Cries out to Heaven, and bondage grows 

" Too vile for ev'n the vile to bear ! 
" Till shame at last, long hidden, burns 
" Their inmost core, and conscience turns 
" Each coward tear the slave lets fall 
" Back on his heart in drops of gall. 
" But here, at least, are arms unchain'd, 
" And souls that thraldom never stain'd ; — 

" This spot, at least, no foot of slave 
" Or satrap ever yet profan'd ; 

" And though but few — though fast the wave 
" Of life is ebbing from our veins, 
" Enough for vengeance still remains. 
" As panthers, after set of sun, 
" Bush from the roots of Lebanon 
" Across the dark-sea robber's way, * 
" We'll bound upon our startled prey ; 



* See Jtussel's account of the panther's attacking travellers in 
the night on the sea-shore about the roots of Lebanon. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 247 

" And when some hearts that proudest swell 
" Have felt onr falchion's last farewell ; 
" When Hope's expiring throb is o'er, 
" And ev'n Despair can prompt no more, 
" This spot shall be the sacred grave 
" Of the last few who, vainly brave, 
" Die for the land they cannot save ! " 

His Chiefs stood round — each shining blade 
Upon the broken altar laid — 
And though so wild and desolate 
Those courts, where once the Mighty sate ; 
Nor longer on those mouldering towers 
Was seen the feast of fruits and flowers, 
With which of old the Magi fed 
The wandering Spirits of their Dead ! * 
Though neither priest nor rites were there, 
Nor charmed leaf of pure pomegranate ; f 

* " Among other ceremonies the Magi used to place upon the 
tops of high towers various kinds of rich viands, upon which it was 
supposed the Peris and the spirits of their departed heroes regaled 
themselves." — Richardson. 

f In the ceremonies of the Ghebers round their Fire, as de- 



248 LALLA ROOKH. 



Nor hymn, nor censer's fragrant air, 

Nor symbol of their worshipp'd planet ; * 
Yet the same God that heard their sires 
Heard them, while on that altar's fires 
They swore f the latest, holiest deed 
Of the few hearts, still left to bleed, 
Should be, in Iran's injur'd name, 
To die upon that Mount of Flame — 
The last of all her patriot line, 
Before her last untrampled Shrine ! 

Brave, suffering souls ! they little knew 
How many a tear their injuries drew 



scribed by Lord, " the Daroo," lie says, " giveth them water to 
drink, and a pomegranate leaf to chew in the mouth, to cleanse them 
from inward uncleanness." 

* " Early in the morning, they (the Parsees or Ghebers at Oulam) 
go in crowds to pay their devotions to the Sun, to whom upon all 
the altars there are spheres consecrated, made by magic, resembling 
the circles of the sun, and when the sun rises, these orbs seem to be 
inflamed, and to turn round with a great noise. They have every 
one a censer in their hands, and offer incense to the sun." — Rabbi 
Benjamin. 

•j" " Nul d'entre eux oseroit se parjurer, quand il a pris a temoin 
cet element terrible et vengeur." — Encyclopedie Francoise. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 249 

From one meek maid, one gentle foe, 
Whom love first touch'cl with others' woe — 
Whose life, as free from thought as sin, 
Slept like a lake, till Love threw in 
His talisman, and woke the tide, 
And spread its trembling circles wide. 
Once, Emir ! thy unheeding child, 
Mid all this havoc, bloom'd and smil'd, — 
Tranquil as on some battle plain 

The Persian lily shines and towers, * 
Before the combat's reddening stain 

Hath fall'n upon her golden flowers. 
Light-hearted maid, unaw'd, unmov'd, 
While Heaven but spar'd the sire she lov'd, 
Once at thy evening tales of blood 
Unlistening and aloof she stood — 
And oft, when thou hast pac'd along 

Thy Haram halls with furious heat, 



* " A vivid verdure succeeds the autumnal rains, and the ploughed 
fields are covered with the Persian lily, of a resplendent yellow 
colour." — RusseVs Aleppo. 



250 LALLA ROOKH. 



Hast thou not curs'd her cheerful song, 

That came across thee, calm and sweet, 
Like lutes of angels, touch'd so near 
Hell's confines, that the damn'd can hear ! 

Far other feelings Love hath brought — 

Her soul all flame, her brow all sadness, 
She now has but the one dear thought, 

And thinks that o'er, almost to madness 
Oft doth her sinking heart recall 
His words — " For my sake weep for all ; " 
And bitterly, as day on day 

Of rebel carnage fast succeeds, 
She weeps a lover snatch'd away 

In every Gheber wretch that bleeds. 
There's not a sabre meets her eye, 

But with his life-blood seems to swim ; 
There's not an arrow wings the sky, 

But fancy turns its point to him. 
No more she brings with footstep light 
Al Hassan's falchion for the fight ; 
And — had he look'd with clearer sight, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 251 

Had not the mists, that ever rise 
From a foul spirit, dimm'd his eyes — 
He would have mark'd her shuddering frame r 
When from the field of blood he came, 
The faltering speech — the look estrang'd — 
Voice, step, and life, and beauty chang'd — 
He would have mark'd all this, and known 
Such change is wr ought by Love alone ! 

Ah ! not the Love, that should have bless'd 
So young, so innocent a breast ; 
Not the pure, open, prosperous Love, 
That, pledg'd on earth and seal'd above, 
Grows in the world's approving eyes, 

In friendship's smile and home's caress, 
Collecting all the heart's sweet ties 

Into one knot of happiness ! 
No, Hind a, no, — thy fatal flame 
Is nurs'd in silence, sorrow, shame ; — 

A passion, without hope or pleasure, 
In thy soul's darkness buried deep, 

It lies, like some ill-gotten treasure, — 



252 LALLA ROOKH. 



Some idol, without shrine or name, 
O'er which its pale-ey'd votaries keep 
Unholy watch, while others sleep. 

Seven nights have darken'd Oman's sea, 

Since last, beneath the moonlight ray, 
She saw his light oar rapidly 

Hurry her Gheber's bark away, — 
And still she goes, at midnight hour, 
To weep alone in that high bower, 
And watch, and look along the deep 
For him whose smiles first made her weep ; 
But watching, weeping, all was vain, 
She never saw his bark again, 
The owlet's solitary cry, 
The night-hawk, flitting darkly by, 

And oft the hateful carrion bird, 
Heavily flapping his clogg'd wing, 
Which reek'd with that day's banquetting — 

Was all she saw, was all she heard. 




Jffl 2 £7 © A . 

.And -watch, and look sQ.on5 the deep 

J ox Mm whose smiles first made fieT weep; 



Fire -Worshippers, p. 216. 



>-eerL,$z£oTvimans. Paternoster Ron'. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 253 



'Tis the eighth morn — Al Hassan's brow- 
Is bright en'd with unusual joy — 
What mighty mischief glads him now, 

Who never smiles but to destroy ? 
The sparkle upon Herkend's Sea, 
When toss'd at midnight furiously, * 
Tells not of wreck and ruin nigh, 
More surely than that smiling eye ! 
" Up, daughter, up — the Kerna's| breath 
" Has blown a blast would waken death, 
" And yet thou sleep ; st — up, child, and see 
" This blessed day for Heaven and me, 
" A day more rich in Pagan blood 
" Than ever flash'd o'er Oman's flood. 
" Before another dawn shall shine, 
" His head — heart — limbs — will all be mine ; 



* " It is observed, with respect to the Sea of Herkend, that when 
it is tossed by tempestuous winds it sparkles like fire." — Travels of 
Two Mohammedans. 

f A kind of trumpet; — it "was that used by Tamerlane, the 
sound of which is described as uncommonly dreadful, and so loud as 
to be heard at the distance of several miles." — Ric 



254 LALLA ROOKH 



" This very night his blood shall steep 

" These hands all over ere I sleep !" — 

" His blood !" she faintly scream'd — her mind 

Still singling one from all mankind — 

" Yes — spite of his ravines and towers, 

" Hafed, my child, this night is ours. 

" Thanks to all-conquering treachery, 

" Without whose aid the links accurst, 
" That bind these impious slaves, would be 

" Too strong for Alla's self to burst ! 
" That rebel fiend, whose blade has spread 
" My path with piles of Moslem dead, 
" Whose baffling spells had almost driven 
" Back from their course the Swords of Heaven, 
" This night, with all his band, shall know 
" How deep an Arab's steel can go, 
" When Grod and Vengeance speed the blow. 
" And — Prophet! by that holy wreath 
" Thou wor'st on Ohod's field of death, * 



* " Mohammed had two helmets, an interior and exterior one ; the 
latter of which, called Al Mawashah, the fillet, wreath, or wreathed 
garland, he wore at the battle of Ohod." — Universal History. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 255 

" I swear, for every sob that parts 

" In anguish from these heathen hearts, 

" A gem from Persia's plunder'd mines 

w Shall ghtter on thy Shrine of Shrines. 

" But, ha! — she sinks — that look so wild — 

" Those livid lips — my child, my child, 

" This life of blood befits not thee, 

" And thou must back to Araby. 

" Ne'er had I risk'd thy timid sex 
" In scenes that man himself might dread, 
" Had I not hop'd our every tread 

" Would be on prostrate Persian necks — 
" Curst race, they oifer swords instead ! 
" But cheer thee, maid, — the wind that now 
" Is blowing o'er thy feverish brow, 
" To-day shall waft thee from the shore ; 
" And, e'er a drop of this night's gore 
" Have time to chill in yonder towers, 
" Thou'lt see thy own sweet Arab bowers !" 



His bloody boast was all too true ; 
There lurk'd one wretch among the few 



256 LALLA ROOKH. 



Whom Hafed's eagle eye could count 

Around him on that Fiery Mount, — 

One miscreant, who for gold betray'd 

The pathway through the valley's shade 

To those high towers, where Freedom stood 

In her last hold of flame and blood. 

Left on the field last dreadful night, 

When, sallying from their Sacred height, 

The Ghebers fought hope's farewell fight, 

He lay — but died not with the brave ; 

That sun, which should have gilt his grave, 

Saw him a traitor and a slave ; — 

And, while the few, who thence return'd 

To their high rocky fortress mourn'd 

For him among the matchless dead 

They left behind on glory's bed, 

He liv'd, and, in the face of morn, 

Laugh'd them and Faith and Heaven to scorn. 

Oh for a tongue to curse the slave, 
Whose treason, like a deadly blight, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 257 



Comes o'er the councils of the brave, 

And blasts them in their hour of might ! 
May Life's unblessed cup for him 
Be drugg'd with treach'ries to the brim, — 
With hopes, that but allure to fly, 

With joys, that vanish while he sips, 
Like Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye, 
But turn to ashes on the lips !* 



* " They say that there are apple-trees upon the sides of this 
sea, which bear very lovely fruit, but within are all full of ashes. — 
Thevenot. The same is asserted of the oranges there ; vide Wit- 
man's Travels in Asiatic Turkey. 

" The Asphalt Lake, known by the name of the Dead Sea, is very 
remarkable on account of the considerable proportion of salt which 
it contains. In this respect it surpasses every other known water 
on the surface of the earth. This great proportion of bitter tasted 
salts is the reason why neither animal nor plant can live in this 
water." — KlaprotJi's Chemical Analysis of the Water of the Dead 
Sea, Annals of Philosophy, January, 1813. Hasselquist, however, 
doubts the truth of this last assertion, as there are shell-fish to be 
found in the lake. 

Lord Byron has a similar allusion to the fruits of the Dead Sea, 
in that wonderful display of genius, his third Canto of Childe 
Harold, — magnificent beyond any thing, perhaps, that even he has 
ever written. 



258 LALLA ROOKH. 



His country's curse, his children's shame, 
Outcast of virtue, peace, and fame, 
May he, at last, with lips of flame 
On the parch'd desert thirsting die, — 
While lakes, that shone in mockery nigh,* 
Are fading off, untouch'd, untasted, 
Like the once glorious hopes he blasted ! 
And, when from earth his spirit flies, 

Just Prophet, let the damn'd-one dwell 
Full in the sight of Paradise, 

Beholding heaven, and feeling hell ! 



* " The Suhrab or Water of the Desert is said to be caused by 
the rarefaction. of the atmosphere from extreme heat; and, which 
augments the delusion, it is most frequent in hollows, where water 
might be expected to lodge. I have seen bushes and trees reflected 
in it, with as much accuracy as though it had been the face of a 
clear and still lake." — Pottinger. 

" As to the unbelievers, their works are like a vapour in a plain, 
which the thirsty traveller thinketh to be water, until when he 
cometh thereto he findeth it to be nothing." — Koran, chap. 24. 



LALLA ROOKH. 259 



Lalla Rookh had, the night before, been visited by 
a dream which, in spite of the impending fate of poor 
Hafed, made her heart more than usually cheerful 
during the morning, and gave her cheeks all the 
freshened animation of a flower that the Bidmusk has 
just passed over.* She fancied that she was sailing on 
that Eastern Ocean, where the sea-gipsies, who live 
for ever on the water f, enjoy a perpetual summer in 



* " A wind which prevails in February, called Bidmusk, from a 
small and odoriferous flower of that name." — "The wind which 
blows these flowers commonly lasts till the end of the month." — Le 
Bruyn. 

f " The Biajus are of two races : the one is settled on Borneo, 
and are a rude but warlike and industrious nation, who reckon 
themselves the original possessors of the island of Borneo. The 
other is a species of sea-gipsies or itinerant fishermen, who live in 
small covered boats, and enjoy a perpetual summer on the eastern 
ocean, shifting to leward from island to island, with the variations 
of the monsoon. In some of their customs this singular race resemble 
the natives of the Maldivia islands. The Maldivians annually 
launch a small bark, loaded with perfumes, gums, flowers, and odo- 
riferous wood, and turn it adrift at the mercy of winds and waves, 



260 LALLA ROOKH. 



wandering from isle to isle, when she saw a small 
gilded bark approaching her. It was like one of those 
boats which the Maldivian islanders send adrift, at 
the mercy of winds and waves, loaded with perfumes, 
flowers, and odoriferous wood, as an oifering to the 
Spirit whom they call King of the Sea. At first, this 
little bark appeared to be empty, but, on coming 
nearer 

She had proceeded thus far in relating the dream to 
her Ladies, when Feramorz appeared at the door of 
the pavilion. In his presence, of course, every thing 
else was forgotten, and the continuance of the story 
was instantly requested by all. Fresh wood of aloes 
was set to burn in the cassolets ; — the violet sherbets * 

as an offering to the Spirit of the Winds ; and sometimes similar 
offerings are made to the spirit whom they term the King of the Sea. 
In like manner the Biajus perform their offering to the God of Evil, 
launching a small bark, loaded with all the sins and misfortunes of 
the nation, which are imagined to fall on the unhappy crew that may 
be so unlucky as first to meet with it." — Dr. Leyden on the Lan- 
guages and Literature of the Indo-Chinese Nations. 

* " The sweet-scented violet is one of the plants most esteemed, 
particularly for its great use in Sorbet, which they make of violet 
sugar." — Hasselquist. 



LALLA ROOKH. 261 



were hastily handed round, and after a short prelude 
on his lute, in the pathetic measure of Nava*, which is 
always used to express the lamentations of absent 
lovers, the Poet thus continued : — 



" The sherbet they most esteem, and which is drunk by the 
Grand Signor himself, is made of violets and sugar." — Tavernier. 

* " Last of all she took a guitar, and sung a pathetic air in the 
measure called Nava, which is always used to express the lamenta- 
tions of absent lovers." — Persian Tales. 



262 LALLA ROOKH. 



The day is lowering — stilly black 
Sleeps the grim wave, while heaven's rack 
Dispers'd and wild, 'twixt earth and sky 
Hangs like a shatter'd canopy. 
There's not a cloud in that blue plain 

But tells of storm to come or past ; — 
Here, flying loosely as the mane 

Of a young war-horse in the blast ; — 
There, roll'd in masses dark and swelling, 
As proud to be the thunder's dwelling ! 
While some, already burst and riven, 
Seem melting down the verge of heaven ; 
As though the infant storm had rent 

The mighty womb that gave him birth, 
And, having swept the firmament, 

Was now in fierce career for earth. 
On earth 'twas yet all calm around, 
A pulseless silence, dread, profound, 
More awful than the tempest's sound. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 263 

The diver steer'd for Ormus' bowers, 
And moor'd his skiff till calmer hours ; 
The sea-birds, with portentous screech, 
Flew fast to land ; — upon the beach 
The pilot oft had paus'd, with glance 
Turn'd upward to that wild expanse ; — 
And all was boding, drear, and dark 
As her own soul, when Hinda's bark 
Went slowly from the Persian shore. — 
No music tim'd her parting oar,* 
Nor friends upon the lessening strand 
Linger'd, to wave the unseen hand, 
Or speak the farewell, heard no more ; — 
But lone, unheeded, from the bay 
The vessel takes its mournful way, 
Like some ill-destin'd bark that steers 
In silence through the Grate of Tears, f 



* " The Easterns used to set out on their longer voyages with 
music." — Harmer. 

j " The Gate of Tears, the straits or passage into the Red Sea, 
commonly called Babelmandel. It received this name from the old 
Arabians, on account of the danger of the navigation, and the 
number of shipwrecks by which it was distinguished ; which induced 



And where was stern Al Hassan then ? 
Could not that saintly scourge of men 
From bloodshed and devotion spare 
One minute for a farewell there ? 
No — close within, in changeful fits 
Of cursing and of prayer, he sits 
In savage loneliness to brood 
Upon the coming night of blood, — 

With that keen, second-scent of death, 
By which the vulture snuffs his food 

In the still warm and living breath ! * 
While o'er the wave his weeping daughter 
Is wafted from these scenes of slaughter, — 
As a young bird of Babylon, | 
Let loose to tell of victory won, 



them to consider as dead, and to wear mourning for all who had the 
boldness to hazard the passage through it into the Ethiopic ocean." 
— Richardson. 

* " I have been told that whensoever an animal falls down dead, 
one or more vultures, unseen before, instantly appear." — Pennant. 

"j" " They fasten some writing to the wings of a Bagdat or Baby- 
lonian pigeon." — Travels of certain Englishmen, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 265 

Flies home, with wing, ah ! not unstain'd 
By the red hands that held her chain'd. 

And does the long-left home she seeks 

Light up no gladness on her cheeks ? 

The flowers she nurs'd — the well-known groves, 

Where oft in dreams her spirit roves — 

Once more to see her dear gazelles 

Come bounding with their silver bells ; 

Her birds' new plumage to behold, 

And the gay, gleaming fishes count, 
She left, all filleted with gold, 

Shooting around their jasper fount ; * 
Her little garden mosque to see, 

And once again, at evening hour, 
To tell her ruby rosary f 

In her own sweet acacia bower. — 

* " The Empress of Jehan-Guire used to divert herself with 
feeding tame fish in her canals, some of which were many years 
afterwards known by fillets of gold, which she caused to be put 
round them." — Harris. 

t " Le Tespih, qui est un chapelet, compose de 99 petites boules 
d' agate, de jaspe, d'ambre, de corail, ou d' autre matiere precieuse. 



266 LALLA ROOKH. 



Can these delights, that wait her now, 

Call up no sunshine on her brow ? 

No, — silent, from her train apart, — 

As if even now she felt at heart 

The chill of her approaching doom, — 

She sits, all lovely in her gloom 

As a pale Angel of the Grave ; 

And o'er the wide, tempestuous wave, 

Looks, with a shudder, to those towers, 

Where, in a few short awful hours, 

Blood, blood, in streaming tides shall run, 

Foul incense for to-morrow's sun ! 

" Where art thou, glorious stranger ! thou, 

" So lov'd, so lost, where art thou now ? 

" Foe — Gheber — infidel — whate'er 

" The' unhallow'd name thou'rt doom'd to bear, 

" Still glorious — still to this fond heart 

" Dear as its blood, whate'er thou art ! 



J' en ai vu un superbe au Seigneur Jerpos ; il etoit de belles et 
grosses perles parfaites et egales, estime trente mille piastres." — 
Toderini. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 267 

" Yes — Alla, dreadful All a! yes — 

" If there be wrongs be crime in this, 

" Let the black waves that round us roll, 

" Whelm me this instant, ere my soul, 

" Forgetting faith — home — father — all — 

" Before its earthly idol fall, 

" Nor worship ev'n Thyself above him — 

" For, oh, so wildly do I love him, 

" Thy Paradise itself were dim 

" And joyless, if not shar'd with him !" 

Her hands were clasp'd — her eyes upturn'd, 

Dropping their tears like moonlight rain ; 
And, though her lip, fond raver ! burn'd 

With words of passion, bold, profane, 
Yet was there light around her brow, 

A holiness in those dark eyes, 
Which show'd, — though wandering earthward now, — 

Her spirit's home was in the skies. 
Yes — for a spirit pure as hers 
Is always pure, ev'n while it errs ; 



268 



LALLA ROOKH. 



As sunshine, broken in the rill, 
Though turn'd astray, is sunshine still 



So wholly had her mind forgot 
All thoughts but one, she heeded not 
The rising storm — the wave that cast 
A moment's midnight, as it pass'd — 
Nor heard the frequent shout, the tread 
Of gathering tumult o'er her head — 
Clash'd swords, and tongues that seem'd to vie 
With the rude riot of the sky. — 
But, hark ! — that Avar- whoop on the deck — 

That crash, as if each engine there, 
Mast, sails, and all, were gone to wreck, 

Mid yells and stampings of despair ! 
Merciful Heaven ! what can it be ? 
'Tis not the storm, though fearfully 
The ship has shudder'd as she rode 
O'er mountain- waves — ■ " Forgive me, God ! 
" Forgive me" — shriek'd the maid, and knelt, 
Trembling all over — for she felt 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 269 

As if her judgment-hour was near ; 

While crouching round, half dead with fear, 

Her handmaids clung, nor breath'd, nor stirr'd — 

When, hark! — a second crash — a third — 

And now, as if a bolt of thunder 

Had riv'n the labouring planks asunder, 

The deck falls in — what horrors then! 

Blood, waves, and tackle, swords and men 

Come mix'd together through the chasm, — 

Some wretches in their dying spasm 

Still fighting on — and some that call 

" For God and Iran ! " as they fall ! 

Whose was the hand that turn'd away 

The perils of the' infuriate fray, 

And snatch'd her breathless from beneath 

This wilderment of wreck and death ? 

She knew not — for a faintness came 

Chill o'er her, and her sinking frame 

Amid the ruins of that hour 

Lay, like a pale and scorched flower, 

Beneath the red volcano's shower. 



270 LALLA ROOKH. 



But, oh ! the sights and sounds of dread 
That shock'd her ere her senses fled ! 
The yawning deck — the crowd that strove 
Upon the tottering planks above — 
The sail, whose fragments, shivering o'er 
The strugglers' heads, all dash'd with gore, 
Flutter'd like bloody flags — the clash 
Of sabres, and the lightning's flash 
Upon their blades, high toss'd about 
Like meteor brands * — as if throughout 

The elements one fury ran, 
One general rage, that left a doubt 

Which was the fiercer, Heav'n or Man ! 

Once too — but no — it could not be — 
'Twas fancy all — yet once she thought, 

While yet her fading eyes could see, 
High on the ruin'd deck she caught 

A glimpse of that unearthly form, 
That glory of her soul, — ev'n then, 

* The meteors that Pliny calls " faces." 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 271 

Amid the whirl of wreck and storm, 

Shining above his fellow-men, 
As, on some black and troublous night, 
The Star of Egypt *, whose proud light 
Never hath beam'd on those who rest 
In the White Islands of the West, f 
Burns through the storm with looks of flame 
That put Heaven's cloudier eyes to shame. 
But no — 'twas but the minute's dream — 
A fantasy — and ere the scream 
Had half-way pass'd her pallid lips, 
A death-like swoon, a chill eclipse 
Of soul and sense its darkness spread 
Around her, and she sunk, as dead. 

How calm, how beautiful comes on 
The stilly hour, when storms are gone ; 
When warring winds have died away, 
And clouds, beneath the glancing ray, 

* "The brilliant Canopus, unseen in European climates." — 
Brown. 

f See Wilford's learned Essays on the Sacred Isles in the West. 



272 LALLA ROOKH. 



Melt off, and leave the land and sea 
Sleeping in bright tranquillity, — 
Fresh as if Day again were born, 
Again upon the lap of Morn ! — 
When the light blossoms, rudely torn 
And scatter'd at the whirlwind's will, 
Hang floating in the pure air still, 
Filling it all with precious balm, 
In gratitude for this sweet calm ; — 
And every drop the thunder-showers 
Have left upon the grass and flowers 
Sparkles, as 'twere that lightning-gem* 
Whose liquid flame is born of them ! 
When, 'stead of one unchanging breeze, 
There blow a thousand gentle airs, 
And each a different perfume bears, — 
As if the loveliest plants and trees 



* A precious stone of the Indies, called by the ancients Cerau- 
niuni, because it was supposed to be found in places where thunder 
had fallen. Tertullian says it has a glittering appearance, as if there 
had been fire in it ; and the author of the Dissertation in Harris's 
Voyages supposes it to be the opal. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 273 

Had vassal breezes of their own 
To watch and wait on them alone, 

And waft no other breath than theirs : 
When the blue waters rise and fall, 
In sleepy sunshine mantling all ; 
And ev'n that swell the tempest leaves 
Is like the full and silent heaves 
Of lovers' hearts, when newly blest, 
Too newly to be quite at rest. 

Such was the golden hour that broke 
Upon the world, when Hind A woke 
From her long trance, and heard around 
No motion but the water's sound 
Rippling against the vessel's side, 
As slow it mounted o'er the tide. — 
But where is she? — her eyes are dark, 
Are wilder'd still — is this the bark, 
The same, that from Harmozia's bay 
Bore her at morn — whose bloody way 
The sea-dog track'd? — no — strange and new 
Is all that meets her wondering view. 



274 LALLA ROOKH. 



Upon a galliot's deck she lies, 

Beneath no rich pavilion's shade, — 
No plumes to fan her sleeping eyes, 

Nor jasmine on her pillow laid. 
But the rude litter, roughly spread 
With war-cloaks, is her homely bed, 
And shawl and sash, on javelins hung, 
For awning o'er her head are flung. 
Shuddering she look'd around — there lay 

A group of warriors in the sun, 
Resting their limbs, as for that day 

Their ministry of death were done. 
Some gazing on the drowsy sea, 
Lost in unconscious reverie ; 
And some, who seem'd but ill to brook 
That sluggish calm, with many a look 
To the slack sail impatient cast, 
As loose it flagg'd around the mast. 

Blest All a ! who shall save her now ? 
There's not in all that warrior band 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 275 

One Arab sword, one turban'd brow 

From her own Faithful Moslem land. 
Their garb — the leathern belt* that wraps 

Each yellow vestf — that rebel hue — 
The Tartar fleece upon their caps J — 

Yes — yes — her fears are all too true, 
And Heaven hath, in this dreadful hour, 
Abandon'd her to Hafed's power ; — 
Hafed, the Gheber ! — at the thought 

Her very heart's blood chills within ; 
He, whom her soul was hourly taught 

To loathe, as some foul fiend of sin, 
Some minister, whom Hell had sent 
To spread its blast, where'er he went, 
And fling, as o'er our earth he trod, 
His shadow betwixt man and God ! 
And she is now his captive, — thrown 
In his fierce hands, alive, alone ; 

* U Herbelot, art. Agduani. 

f " The Guebres are known by a dark yellow colour, which the 
men affect in their clothes." — Thevenot. 

I " The Kolah, or cap, worn by the Persians, is made of the skin 
of the sheep of Tartary." — Waring. 



276 LALLA ROOKH. 



His the infuriate band she sees, 
All infidels — all enemies ! 
What was the daring hope that then 
Cross'd her like lightning, as again, 
With boldness that despair had lent, 

She darted through that armed crowd 
A look so searching, so intent, 

That ev'n the sternest warrior bow'd 
Abash'd, when he her glances caught, 
As if he guess'd whose form they sought. 
But no — she sees him not — 'tis gone, 
The vision that before her shone 
Through all the maze of blood and storm, 
Is fled — 'twas but a phantom form — 
One of those passing, rainbow dreams, 
Half light, half shade, which Fancy's beams 
Paint on the fleeting mists that roll 
In trance or slumber round the soul. 

But now the bark, with livelier bound, 

Scales the blue wave — the crew's in motion, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 277 

The oars are out, and with light sound 

Break the bright mirror of the ocean, 
Scattering its brilliant fragments round. 
And now she sees — with horror sees, 

Their course is tow'rd that mountain-hold, — 
Those towers, that make her life-blood freeze, 
Where Mecca's godless enemies 

Lie, like beleaguer'd scorpions, roll'd 

In their last deadly, venomous fold ! 
Amid the' illumin'd land and flood 
Sunless that mighty mountain stood ; 
Save where, above its awful head, 
There shone a flaming-cloud, blood-red, 
As 'twere the flag of destiny 
Hung out to mark where death would be ! 

Had her bewilder'd mind the power 
Of thought in this terrific hour, 
She well might marvel where or how 
Man's foot could scale that mountain's brow, 
Since ne'er had Arab heard or known 
Of path but through the glen alone. — 



278 LALLA ROOKH. 



But every thought was lost in fear, 
When, as their bounding bark drew near 
The craggy base, she felt the waves 
Hurry them tow'rd those dismal caves, 
That from the Deep in windings pass 
Beneath that Mount's volcanic mass ; — 
And loud a voice on deck commands 
To lower the mast and light the brands ! — 
Instantly o'er the dashing tide 
Within a cavern's mouth they glide, 
Gloomy as that eternal Porch 

Through which departed spirits go : — 
Not ev'n the flare of brand and torch 
Its flickering light could further throw 
Than the thick flood that boil'd below. 
Silent they floated — as if each 
Sat breathless, and too aw'd for speech 
In that dark chasm, where even sound 
Seem'd dark, — so sullenly around 
The goblin echoes of the cave 
Mutter'd it o'er the long black wave, 
As 'twere some secret of the grave ! 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 279 

But soft — they pause — the current turns 
Beneath them from its onward track ; — 

Some mighty, unseen barrier spurns 
The vexed tide, all foaming, back, 

And scarce the oars' redoubled force 

Can stem the eddy's whirling force ; 

When, hark ! — some desperate foot has sprung 

Among the rocks — the chain is flung — 

The oars are up — the grapple clings, 

And the toss'd bark in moorings swings. 

Just then, a day-beam through the shade 

Broke tremulous — but, ere the maid 

Can see from whence the brightness steals, 

Upon her brow she shuddering feels 

A viewless hand, that promptly ties 

A bandage round her burning eyes ; 

While the rude litter where she lies, 

Uplifted by the warrior throng, 

O'er the steep rocks is borne along. 

Blest power of sunshine ! — genial Day, 
What balm, what life is in thy ray ! 



280 



LALLA ROOKH. 



To feel thee is such real bliss, 
That had the world no joy but this, 
To sit in sunshine calm and sweet, — 
It were a world too exquisite 
For man to leave it for the gloom, 
The deep, cold shadow of the tomb. 
Ev'n Hinda, though she saw not where 

Or whither wound the perilous road, 
Yet knew by that awakening air, 

Which suddenly around her glow'd, 
That they had risen from darkness then. 
And breath'd the sunny world again ! 



But soon this balmy freshness fled — 

For now the steepy labyrinth led 

Through damp and gloom — 'mid crash of boughs, 

And fall of loosen'd crags that rouse 

The leopard from his hungry sleep, 

Who, starting, thinks each crag a prey, 
And long is heard, from steep to steep, 

Chasing them down their thundering way ! 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 281 

The jackal's cry — the distant moan 
Of the hyagna, fierce and lone — 
And that eternal saddening sound 

Of torrents in the glen beneath, 
As 'twere the ever-dark Profound 

That rolls beneath the Bridge of Death ! 
All, all is fearful — ev'n to see, 

To gaze on those terrific things 
She now but blindly hears, would be 

Relief to her imaginings ; 
Since never yet was shape so dread, 

But Fancy, thus in darkness thrown, 
And by such sounds of horror fed, 

Could frame more dreadful of her own. 

But does she dream ? has Fear again 

Perplex'd the workings of her brain, 

Or did a voice, all music, then 

Come from the gloom, low whispering near — 

" Tremble not, love, thy Gheber's here ? " 

She does not dream — all sense, all ear, 

She drinks the words, " Thy Gheber's here." 



282 LALLA ROOKH. 



'Twas his own voice — she could not err — 

Throughout the breathing world's extent 
There was but one such voice for her, 

So kind, so soft, so eloquent ! 
Oh, sooner shall the rose of May 

Mistake her own sweet nightingale, 
And to some meaner minstrel's lay 

Open her bosom's glowing veil,* 
Than Love shall ever doubt a tone, 
A breath of the beloved one ! 

Though blest, 'mid all her ills, to think 

She has that one beloved near, 
Whose smile, though met on ruin's brink, 
Hath power to make ev'n ruin dear, — 
Yet soon this gleam of rapture, crost 
By fears for him, is chill'd and lost. 
How shall the ruthless Hafed brook 
That one of Gheber blood should look, 



* A frequent image among the Oriental poets. " The nightingales 
warbled their enchanting notes, and rent the thin veils of the rose- 
bud and the rose." — Jami. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 283 



With aught but curses in his eye, 

On her — a maid of Araby — 

A Moslem maid — the child of him, 

Whose bloody banner's dire success 
Hath left their altars cold and dim, 

And their fair land a wilderness ! 
And, worse than all, that night of blood 

Which comes so fast — Oh ! who shall stay 
The sword, that once hath tasted food 

Of Persian hearts, or turn its way ? 
What arm shall then the victim cover, 
Or from her father shield her lover ? 
" Save him, my God ! " she inly cries — 
" Save him this night — and if thine eyes 

" Have ever welcom'd with delight 
" The sinner's tears, the sacrifice 

" Of sinners' hearts — guard him this night, 
" And here, before thy throne, I swear 
" From my heart's inmost core to tear 

" Love, hope, remembrance, though they be 
" Link'd with each quivering life-string there, 

" And give it bleeding all to Thee ! 



284 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Let him but live, — the burning tear, 

" The sighs, so sinful, yet so dear, 

vi Which have been all too much his own, 

" Shall from tliis hour be Heaven's alone. 

" Youth pass'd in penitence, and age 

" In long and painful pilgrimage, 

" Shall leave no traces of the flame 

" That wastes me now — nor shall his name 

" Ere bless my lips, but when I pray 

" For his dear spirit, that away 

" Casting from its angelic ray 

" The' eclipse of earth, he, too, may shine 

" Kedeem'd, all glorious and all Thine ! 

" Think — think what victory to win 

" One radiant soul like his from sin, — 

" One wandering star of virtue back 

" To its own native, heaven-ward track ! 

" Let him but live, and both are Thine, 

" Together thine — for, blest or crost, 
i( Living or dead, his doom is mine, 

" And, if he perish, both are lost ! " 



LALLA ROOKH. 285 



The next evening Lalla Rookh was entreated by her 
Ladies to continue the relation of her wonderful dream ; 
but the fearful interest that hung round the fate of 
Hixda and her lover had completely removed every 
trace of it from her mind : — much to the disappointment 
of a fair seer or two in her train, who prided themselves 
on their skill in interpreting visions, and who had 
already remarked, as an unlucky omen, that the Princess, 
on the very morning after the dream, had worn a silk 
dyed with the blossoms of the sorrowful tree, Nilica.* 

Fadladeex, whose indignation had more than once 
broken out during the recital of some parts of this 



* " Blossoms of the sorrowful ^Nyctanthes give a durable colour 
to silk." — Remarks on the Husbandry of Bengal, p. 200. Silica is 
one of the Indian names of this flower. — Sir W. Jones. The 
Persians call it Gul. — Carreri. 



286 



LALLA ROOKH. 



heterodox poem, seemed at length to have made up his 
mind to the infliction ; and took his seat this evening 
with all the patience of a martyr, while the Poet re- 
sumed his profane and seditious story as follows: — 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 287 



To tearless eyes and hearts at ease 
The leafy shores and sun-bright seas, 
That lay beneath that mountain's height, 
Had been a fair enchanting sight. 
'Twas one of those ambrosial eves 
A day of storm so often leaves 
At its calm setting — when the West 
Opens her golden bowers of rest, 
And a moist radiance from the skies 
Shoots trembling down, as from the eyes 
Of some meek penitent, whose last 
Bright hours atone for dark ones past, 
And whose sweet tears, o'er wrong forgiven. 
Shine, as they fall, with light from heaven ! 

'Twas stillness all — the winds that late 

Had rush'd through Kekman's almond groves, 



288 LALLA ROOKH. 



And shaken from her bowers of date 

That cooling feast the traveller loves,* 
Now, lull'd to languor, scarcely curl 

The Green Sea wave, whose waters gleam 
Limpid, as if her mines of pearl 

Were melted all to form the stream : 
And her fair islets, small and bright, 

With their green shores reflected there, 
Look like those Peri isles of light, 

That hang by spell-work in the air. 



But vainly did those glories burst 
On Hilda's dazzled eyes, when first 
The bandage from her brow was taken, 
And, pale and aw'd as those who waken 
In their dark tombs — when, scowling near, 
The Searchers of the Grave f appear, — 



* " In parts of Kerman, whatever dates are shaken from the trees 
by the wind they do not touch, but leave them for those who have 
not any, or for travellers." — Ebn Haukal. 

f The two terrible angels, Monkir and ISTakir, who are called 
" the Searchers of the Grave " in the " Creed of the orthodox Ma- 
hometans " given by Ockley, vol. ii. 









THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 289 

She shuddering turn'd to read her fate 

In the fierce eyes that flash'd around ; 
And saw those towers all desolate, 

That o'er her head terrific frown'd, 
As if defying ev'n the smile 
Of that soft heaven to gild their pile. 
In vain, with mingled hope and fear, 
She looks for him whose voice so dear 
Had come, like music, to her ear — 
Strange, mocking dream ! again 'tis fled. 
And oh, the shoots, the pangs of dread 
That through her inmost bosom run, 

When voices from without proclaim 
" Hafed, the Chief "—and, one by one, 

The warriors shout that fearful name ! 
He comes — the rock resounds his tread — 
How shall she dare to lift her head, 
Or meet those eyes whose scorching glare 
Not Yemen's boldest sons can bear ? 
In whose red beam, the Moslem tells, 
Such rank and deadly lustre dwells, 



290 LALLA ROOKH. 



As in those hellish fires that light 

The mandrake's charnel leaves at night.* 

How shall she bear that voice's tone, 

At whose loud battle-cry alone 

Whole squadrons oft in panic ran, 

Scatter'd like some vast caravan, 

When, stretch'd at evening round the well, 

They hear the thirsting tiger's yell. 

Breathless she stands, with eyes cast down, 
Shrinking beneath the fiery frown, 
Which, fancy tells her, from that brow 
Is flashing o'er her fiercely now : 
And shuddering as she hears the tread 

Of his retiring warrior band. — 
Never was pause so full of dread ; 

Till Hated with a trembling hand 
Took hers, and, leaning o'er her, said, 
" Hinda ; " — that word was all he spoke, 
And 'twas enough — the shriek that broke 

* " The Arabians call the mandrake ' the Devil's candle,' on ac- 
count of its shining appearance in the night." — Richardson. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 291 

From her full bosom, told the rest. — 
Panting with terror, joy, surprise, 
The maid but lifts her wondering eyes, 

To hide them on her Grheber's breast ! 
'Tis he, 'tis he — the man of blood, 
The fellest of the Fire-fiend's brood, 
Hafed, the demon of the fight, 
Whose voice unnerves, whose glances blight, — 
Is her own loved Gheber, mild 
And glorious as when first he smil'd 
In her lone tower, and left such beams 
Of his pure eye to light her dreams, 
That she believ'd her bower had given 
Rest to some wanderer from heaven ! 

Moments there are, and this was one, 
Snatch'd like a minute's gleam of sun 
Amid the black Simoom's eclipse — 

Or, like those verdant spots that bloom 
Around the crater's burning lips, 

Sweetening the very edge of doom ! 



292 LALLA ROOKH. 



The past — the future — all that Fate 
Can bring of dark or desperate 
Around such hours, but makes them cast 
Intenser radiance while they last ! 

Ev'n he, this youth — though dimm'd and gone 

Each star of Hope that cheer'd him on — 

His glories lost — his cause betray'd — 

Iran, his dear-lov'd country, made 

A land of carcasses and slaves, 

One dreary waste of chains and graves ! — 

Himself but lingering, dead at heart, 

To see the last, long struggling breath 
Of Liberty's great soul depart, 

Then lay him down and share her death — 
Ev'n he, so sunk in wretchedness, 

With doom still darker gathering o'er him, 
Yet, in this moment's pure caress, 

In the mild eyes that shone before him, 
Beaming that blest assurance, worth 
All other transports known on earth, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 293 

That he was lov'd — well, warmly lov'd — 
Oh ! in this precious hour he prov'd 
How deep, how thorough-felt the glow 
Of rapture, kindling out of woe ; — 
How exquisite one single drop 
Of bliss, thus sparkling to the top 
Of misery's cup — how keenly quaff 'd, 
Though death must follow on the draught ! 

She, too, while gazing on those eyes 

That sink into her soul so deep, 
Forgets all fears, all miseries, 

Or feels them like the wretch in sleep, 
Whom fancy cheats into a smile, 
Who dreams of joy, and sobs the while! 
The mighty Ruins where they stood, 

Upon the mount's high, rocky verge, 
Lay open tow'rds the ocean flood, 

Where lightly o'er the' illumin'd surge 
Many a fair bark that, all the day, 
Had lurk'd in sheltering creek or bay, 



294 LALLA ROOKH. 



Now bounded on, and gave their sails, 

Yet dripping, to the evening gales ; 

Like eagles, when the storm is done, 

Spreading their wet wings in the sun. 

The beauteous clouds, though daylight's Star 

Had sunk behind the hills of Lar, 

Were still with lingering glories bright, — 

As if, to grace the gorgeous West, 

The Spirit of departing Light 
That eve had left his sunny vest 

Behind him, ere he wing'd his flight. 
Never was scene so form'd for love ! 
Beneath them waves of crystal move 
In silent swell — Heaven glows above, 
And their pure hearts, to transport given, 
Swell like the wave, and glow like Heaven. 

But, ah! too soon that dream is past — 
Again, again her fear returns ; — 

Night, dreadful night, is gathering fast, 
More faintly the horizon burns, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 295 

And every rosy tint that lay 

On the smooth sea hath died away. 

Hastily to the darkening skies 

A glance she casts — then wildly cries 

" At night, he said — and, look, 'tis near — 

" Fly, fly — if yet thou lov'st me, fly — 
" Soon will his murderous band be here, 

" And I shall see thee bleed and die. — 
" Hush ! heard'st thou not the tramp of men 
" Sounding from yonder fearful glen ? — 
" Perhaps ev'n now they climb the wood — 

" Fly, fly — though still the West is bright, 
" He'll come — oh! yes — he wants thy blood — 

" I know him — he'll not wait for night !" 

In terrors ev'n to agony 

She clings around the wondering Chief; — 
" Alas, poor wilder'd maid ! to me 

" Thou ow'st this raving trance of grief. 
u Lost as I am, nought ever grew 
" Beneath my shade but perish'd too — 



296 LALLA ROOKH. 



" My doom is like the Dead Sea air, 
" And nothing lives that enters there ! 
" Why were our barks together driven 
" Beneath this morning's furious heaven ? 
" Why, when I saw the prize that chance 

" Had thrown into my desperate arms, — 
" When, casting but a single glance 

" Upon thy pale and prostrate charms, 
" I vow'd (though watching viewless o'er 

" Thy safety through that hour's alarms) 
" To meet the' unmanning sight no more — 
" Why have I broke that heart- wrung vow ? 
" Why weakly, madly met thee now ? — 
" Start not — that noise is but the shock 

" Of torrents through yon valley hurl'd — 
" Dread nothing here— upon this rock 

" We stand above the jarring world, 
" Alike beyond its hope — its dread — 
(( In gloomy safety, like the Dead ! 
" Or, could ev'n earth and hell unite 
" In league to storm this Sacred Height, 
" Fear nothing thou — myself, to-night. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 297 

" And each o'erlooking star that dwells 
" Near God will be thy sentinels ; — 
" And, ere to-morrow's dawn shall glow, 

" Back to thy sire " 

" To-morrow! — no — " 
The maiden scream'd — "thou'lt never see 
" To-morrow's sun — death, death will be 
" The night-cry through each reeking tower, 
" Unless we fly, ay, fly this hour ! 
" Thou art betray'd — some wretch who knew 
" That dreadful glen's mysterious clew — 
" Nay, doubt not — by yon stars, 'tis true — 
" Hath sold thee to my vengeful sire ; 
" This morning, with that smile so dire 
" He wears in joy, he told me all, 
" And stamp'd in triumph through our hall, 
" As though thy heart already beat 
" Its last life-throb beneath his feet ! 
" Good Heaven, how little dream'd I then 

" His victim was my own lov'd youth ! — 
" Fly — send — let some one watch the glen — 

" By all my hopes of heaven 'tis truth ! " 



298 LALLA ROOKH. 



Oil ! colder than the wind that freezes 

Founts, that but now in sunshine play'd, 
Is that congealing pang which seizes 

The trusting bosom, when betray'd. 
He felt it — deeply felt — and stood, 
As if the tale had froz'n his blood, 

So maz'd and motionless was he ; — 
Like one whom sudden spells enchant, 
Or some mute, marble habitant 

Of the still Halls of Ishmonie ! * 

But soon the painful chill was o'er, 
And his great soul, herself once more, 
Look'd from his brow in all the rays 
Of her best, happiest, grandest days. 
Never, in moment most elate, 

Did that high spirit loftier rise ; — ■ 
While bright, serene, determinate, 

His looks are lifted to the skies, 



* For an account of Ishmonie, the petrified city in Upper Egypt, 
where it is said there are many statues of men, women, &c. to be 
seen to this day, see Perry's View of the Levant. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 299 

As if the signal lights of Fate 

Were shining in those awful eyes ! 
'Tis come — his hour of martyrdom 
In Iran's sacred cause is come ; 
And, though his life hath pass'd away 
Like lightning on a stormy day, 
Yet shall his death-hour leave a track 

Of glory, permanent and bright, 
To which the brave of after-times, 
The suffering brave, shall long look back 

With proud regret, — and by its light 

Watch through the hours of slavery's night 
For vengeance on the' oppressor's crimes. 
This rock, his monument aloft, 

Shall speak the tale to many an age ; 
And hither bards and heroes oft 

Shall come in secret pilgrimage, 
And bring their warrior sons, and tell 
The wondering boys where Hafed fell ; 
And swear them on those lone remains 
Of their lost country's ancient fanes, 



300 LALLA ROOKH. 



Never — while breath of life shall live 
Within them — never to forgive 
The' accursed race, whose ruthless chain 
Hath left on Iran's neck a stain 
Blood, blood alone can cleanse again ! 

Such are the swelling thoughts that now 
Enthrone themselves on Hafed's brow ; 
And ne'er did Saint of Issa* gaze 

On the red wreath, for martyrs twin'd, 
More proudly than the youth surveys 

That pile, which through the gloom behind, 
Half lighted by the altar's fire, 
Glimmers — his destin'd funeral pyre ! 
Heap'd by his own, his comrades' hands, 

Of every wood of odorous breath, 
There, by the Fire-Grod's shrine it stands, 

Ready to fold in radiant death 
The few still left of those who swore 
To perish there, when hope was o'er — 

* Jesus, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 301 

The few, to whom that couch of flame, 
Which rescues them from bonds and shame, 
Is sweet and welcome as the bed 
For their own infant Prophet spread, 
When pitying Heaven to roses turn'd 
The death-flames that beneath him burn'd ! * 

With watchfulness the maid attends 
His rapid glance, where'er it bends — 
Why shoot his eyes such awful beams ? 
What plans he now ? what thinks or dreams ? 
Alas ! why stands he musing here, 
When every moment teems with fear ? 
" Hafed, my own beloved Lord," 
She kneeling cries — "first, last ador'd! 



* The Ghebers say that when Abraham, their great Prophet, was 
thrown into the fire by order of Nimrod, the flame turned instantly 
into " a bed of roses, where the child sweetly reposed." — Tavernier. 

Of their other Prophet, Zoroaster, there is a story told in Dion 
Prusceus, Orat. 36., that the love of wisdom and virtue leading him 
to a solitary life upon a mountain, he found it one day all in a 
flame, shining with celestial fire, out of which he came without any 
harm, and instituted certain sacrifices to God, who, he declared, 
then appeared to him. — Vide Patrick on Exodus, iii. 2. 



302 LALLA ROOKH. 



" If in that soul thou'st ever felt 

" Half what thy lips impassion'd swore, 
" Here, on my knees that never knelt 

" To any but their God before, 
" I pray thee, as thou lov'st me, fly — 
" Now, now — ere yet their blades are nigh. 
" Oh haste — the bark that bore me hither 

i( Can waft us o'er yon darkening sea 
" East< — west — alas, I care not whither, 

" So thou art safe, and I with thee ! 
" Go where we will, this hand in thine, 

" Those eyes before me smiling thus, 
" Through good and ill, through storm and shine, 

" The world's a world of love for us ! 
" On some calm, blessed shore we'll dwell, 
" Where 'tis no crime to love too well ; — 
" Where thus to worship tenderly 
" An erring child of light like thee 
" Will not be sin — or, if it be, 
" Where we may weep our faults away, 
" Together kneeling, night and day, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 303 

" Thou, for my sake, at Alla's shrine, 
" And I— at any God's, for thine !" 

Wildly these passionate words she spoke — 
Then hung her head, and wept for shame ; 

Sobbing, as if her heart-string broke 
With every deep-heav'd sob that came. 

While he, young, warm — oh ! wonder not 
If, for a moment, pride and fame, 
His oath — his cause — that shrine of flame, 

And Iran's self are all forgot 

For her whom at his feet he sees 

Kneeling in speechless agonies. 

No, blame him not, if Hope awhile 

Dawn'd in his soul, and threw her smile 

O'er hours to come — o'er days and nights, 

Wing'd with those precious, pure delights 

Which she, who bends all beauteous there, 

Was born to kindle and to share. 

A tear or two, which, as he bow'd 

To raise the suppliant, trembling stole, 



304 LALLA ROOKH. 



First warn'd him of this dangerous cloud 

Of softness passing o'er his soul. 
Starting, he brush'd the drops away, 
Unworthy o'er that cheek to stray ; — 
Like one who, on the morn of fight, 
Shakes from his sword the dews of night, 
That had but dimm'd, not stain'd its light. 

Yet, though subdued the' unnerving thrill, 
Its warmth, its weakness linger'd still 

So touching in each look and tone, 
That the fond, fearing, hoping maid 
Half counted on the flight she pray'd, 

Half thought the hero's soul was grown 

As soft, as yielding as her own, 
And smil'd and bless'd him, while he said, — 
" Yes — if there be some happier sphere, 
" Where fadeless truth like ours is dear, — 
" If there be any land of rest 

" For those who love and ne'er forget, 
" Oh! comfort thee — for safe and blest 

" We'll meet in that calm region yet ! " 






THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 305 

Scarce had she time to ask her heart 
If good or ill these words impart, 
When the rous'd youth impatient flew 
To the tower-wall, where, high in view, 
A ponderous sea-horn* hung, and blew 
A signal, deep and dread as those 
The storm-fiend at his rising blows. — 
Full well his Chieftains, sworn and true 
Through life and death, that signal knew ; 
For 'twas the' appointed warning-blast, 
The' alarm, to tell when hope was past, 
And the tremendous death-die cast ! 
And there, upon the mouldering tower, 
Hath hung this sea-horn many an hour, 
Ready to sound o'er land and sea 
That dirge-note of the brave and free. 

They came — his Chieftains at the call 
Came slowly round, and with them all — 

* " The shell called Siiankos, common to India, Africa, and the 
Mediterranean, and still used in many parts as a trumpet for blowing 
alarms or giving signals : it sends forth a deep and hollow sound." 
— Pennant. 



306 LALLA ROOKH. 



Alas, how few ! — the worn remains 
Of those who late o'er Kerman's plains 
Went gaily prancing to the clash 

Of Moorish zel and tymbalon, 
Catching new hope from every flash 

Of their long lances in the sun, 
And, as their coursers charg'd the wind, 
And the white ox-tails stream'd behind,* 
Looking, as if the steeds they rode 
Were wing'd, and every Chief a God ! 
How fall'n, how alter'd now ! how wan 
Each scarr'd and faded visage shone, 
As round the burning shrine they came ! — 

How deadly was the glare it cast, 
As mute they paus'd before the flame 

To light their torches as they pass'd ! 
'Twas silence all — the youth hath plann'd 
The duties of his soldier-band ; 



* " The finest ornament for the horses is made of six large flying 
tassels of long white hair, taken out of the tails of wild oxen, that 
are to be found in some places of the Indies." — Thevenot 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 307 

And each determin'd brow declares 
His faithful Chieftains well know theirs. 

But minutes speed — night gems the skies — 
And oh, how soon, ye blessed eyes, 
That look from heaven, ye may behold 
Sights that will turn your star-fires cold ! 
Breathless with awe, impatience, hope, 
The maiden sees the veteran group 
Her litter silently prepare, 

And lay it at her trembling feet ; — 
And now the youth, with gentle care, 

Hath plac'd her in the shelter'd seat, 
And press'd her hand — that lingering press 

Of hands, that for the last time sever ; 
Of hearts, whose pulse of happiness, 

When that hold breaks, is dead for ever. 
And yet to her this sad caress 

Gives hope — so fondly hope can err ! 
'Twas joy, she thought, joy's mute excess — 

Their happy flight's dear harbinger ; 



308 LALLA ROOKH. 



'Twas warmth — assurance — tenderness — 
'Twas any thing but leaving her. 

" Haste, haste ! " she cried, " the clouds grow dark, 
" But still, ere night, we'll reach the bark ; 
" And by to-morrow's dawn — oh bliss ! 

" With thee upon the sun-bright deep, 
" Far off, I'll but remember this, 

" As some dark vanish'd dream of sleep ; 
" And thou " but ah ! — he answers not — 

Good Heaven ! — and does she go alone? 
She now has reach'd that dismal spot, 

Where, some hours since, his voice's tone 
Had come to soothe her fears and ills, 
Sweet as the angel Israfil's,* 
When every leaf on Eden's tree 
Is trembling to his minstrelsy — 
Yet now — oh, now, he is not nigh. — 

" Hafed ! my Hafed ! — if it be 



* " The angel Israfil, who has the most melodious voice of all 
God's creatures." — Sale. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 309 

" Thy will, thy doom this night to die, 

" Let me but stay to die with thee, 
" And I will bless thy loved name, 
" Till the last life-breath leave this frame. 
" Oh ! let our lips, our cheeks be laid 
"But near each other while they fade ; 
i( Let us but mix our parting breaths, 
" And I can die ten thousand deaths ! 
" You too, who hurry me away 
" So cruelly, one moment stay — 

" Oh ! stay — one moment is not much — 
" He yet may come — for him I pray — 
" Hated ! dear Hafed ! — " all the way 

In wild lamentings, that would touch 
A heart of stone, she shriek'd his name 
To the dark woods — no Hafed came : — 
No — hapless pair — you've look'd your last: — 

Your hearts should both have broken then : 
The dream is o'er — your doom is cast — 

You'll never meet on earth again ! 



310 LALLA ROOKH. 



Alas for him, who hears her cries ! 

Still half-way down the steep he stands, 
Watching with fix'd and feverish eyes 

The glimmer of those burning brands, 
That down the rocks, with mournful ray, 
Light all he loves on earth away ! 
Hopeless as they who, far at sea, 

By the cold moon have just consign'd 
The corse of one, lov'd tenderly, 

To the bleak flood they leave behind ; 
And on the deck still lingering stay, 
And long look back, with sad delay, 
To watch the moonlight on the wave, 
That ripples o'er that cheerless grave. 

But see — he starts — what heard he then ? 
That dreadful shout ! — across the olen 
From the land-side it comes, and loud 
Rings through the chasm ; as if the crowd 
Of fearful things, that haunt that dell, 
Its Gholes and Dives and shapes of hell, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 311 

Had all in one dread howl broke out, 

So loud, so terrible that shout ! 

" They come — the Moslems come!" — he cries, 

His proud soul mounting to his eyes, — 

" Now, Spirits of the Brave, who roam 

(i Enfranchis'd through yon starry dome, 

" Rejoice — for souls of kindred fire 

" Are on the wing to join your choir ! " 

He said — and, light as bridegrooms bound 

To their young loves, reclimb'd the steep 
And gain'd the Shrine — his Chiefs stood round — 

Their swords, as with instinctive leap, 
Together, at that cry accurst, 
Had from their sheaths, like sunbeams, burst. 
And hark ! — again— again it rings ; 
Near and more near its echoings 
Peal through the chasm — oh ! who that then 
Had seen those listening warrior-men, 
With their swords grasp'd, their eyes of flame 
Turn'd on their Chief — could doubt the shame, 
The' indignant shame with which they thrill 
To hear those shouts and yet stand still ? 



312 LALLA ROOKH. 



He read their thoughts — they were his own — 

" What ! while our arms can wield these blades, 
" Shall we die tamely ? die alone ? 

" Without one victim to our shades, 
" One Moslem heart, where, buried deep, 
" The sabre from its toil may sleep ? 
" No — God of Iran's burning skies ! 
" Thou scorn'st the' inglorious sacrifice. 
" No — though of all earth's hope bereft, 
" Life, swords, and vengeance still are left, 
" We'll make yon valley's reeking caves 

" Live in the awe-struck minds of men, 
" Till tyrants shudder, when their slaves 

" Tell of the Grhebers' bloody glen. 
" Follow, brave hearts! — this pile remains 
" Our refuge still from life and chains ; 
" But his the best, the holiest bed, 
" Who sinks entomb'd in Moslem dead ! " 

Down the precipitous rocks they sprung, 
While vigour, more than human, strung 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 313 

Each arm and heart. — The' exulting foe 
Still through the dark denies below, 
Track'd by his torches' lurid fire, 

Wound slow, as through Golconda's vale * 
The mighty serpent, in his ire, 

Glides on with glittering, deadly trail. 
No torch the Ghebers need — so well 
They know each mystery of the dell, 
So oft have, in their wanderings, 
Cross'd the wild race that round them dwell. 

The very tigers from their delves 
Look out, and let them pass, as things 

Untam'd and fearless like themselves ! 

There was a deep ravine, that lay 
Yet darkling in the Moslem's way ; 
Fit spot to make invaders rue 
The many fall'n before the few. 
The torrents from that morning's sky 
Had fill'd the narrow chasm breast-high, 

* See Hoole upon the Story of Sinbad. 



314 LALLA ROOKH. 



And, on each side, aloft and wild, 

Huge cliffs and toppling crags were pil'd, — 

The guards with which young Freedom lines 

The pathways to her mountain-shrines. 

Here, at this pass, the scanty band 

Of Iran's last avengers stand ; 

Here wait, in silence like the dead, 

And listen for the Moslem's tread 

So anxiously, the carrion-bird 

Above them flaps his wing unheard ! 

They come — that plunge into the water 
Gives signal for the work of slaughter. 
Now, Ghebers, now — if e'er your blades 

Had point or prowess, prove them now — 
Woe to the file that foremost wades ! 

They come — a falchion greets each brow, 
And, as they tumble, trunk on trunk, 
Beneath the gory waters sunk, 
Still o'er their drowning bodies press 
New victims quick and numberless; 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 315 

Till scarce an arm in Hafed's band, 
So fierce their toil, hath power to stir, 

But listless from each crimson hand 

The sword hangs, clogg'd with massacre. 

Never was horde of tyrants met 

With bloodier welcome — never yet 

To patriot vengeance hath the sword 

More terrible libations pour'd ! 

All up the dreary, long ravine, 
By the red, murky glimmer seen 
Of half-quench'd brands, that o'er the flood 
Lie scatter'd round and burn in blood, 
What ruin glares ! what carnage swims ! 
Heads, blazing turbans, quivering limbs, 
Lost swords that, dropp'd from many a hand, 
In that thick pool of slaughter stand ; — 
Wretches who wading, half on fire 

From the toss'd brands that round them fly, 
'Twixt flood and flame in shrieks expire ; — 

And some who, grasp'd by those that die. 



316 LALLA ROOKH. 



Sink woundless with them, smother'd o'er 
In their dead brethren's gushing gore ! 

But vainly hundreds, thousands bleed, 

Still hundreds, thousands more succeed ; 

Countless as tow'rds some flame at night 

The North's dark insects wing their flight, 

And quench or perish in its light, 

To this terrific spot they pour — 

Till, bridg'd with Moslem bodies o'er, 

It bears aloft their slippery tread, 

And o'er the dying and the dead, 

Tremendous causeway ! on they pass. 

Then, hapless Grhebers, then, alas, 

What hope was left for you ? for you, 

Whose yet warm pile of sacrifice 

Is smoking in their vengeful eyes ; — 

Whose swords how keen, how fierce they knew, 

And burn with shame to find how few. 

Crush'd down by that vast multitude, 

Some found their graves where first they stood ; 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 317 

While some with hardier struggle died, 
And still fought on by Hafed's side, 
Who, fronting to the foe, trod back 
Tow'rds the high towers his gory track ; 
And, as a lion swept away 

By sudden swell of Jordan's pride 
From the wild covert where he lay, * 

Long battles with the' o'erwhelming tide, 
So fought he back with fierce delay, 
And kept both foes and fate at bay. 

But whither now ? their track is lost, 

Their prey escap'd — guide, torches gone — 

By torrent-beds and labyrinths crost, 
The scatter'd crowd rush blindly on — 

" Curse on those tardy lights that wind," 

They panting cry, " so far behind ; 



* " In this thicket upon the banks of the Jordan several sorts of 
wild beasts are wont to harbour themselves, whose being washed out 
of the covert by the overflowings of the river gave occasion to that 
allusion of Jeremiah, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of 
Jordan.'" 1 — MaundrelVs Aleppo. 



318 LALLA ROOKH. 



" Oh for a bloodhound's precious scent, 

" To track the way the Grheber went ! " 

Vain wish — confusedly along 

They rush, more desperate as more wrong : 

Till, wilder'd by the far-off lights, 

Yet glittering up those gloomy heights, 

Their footing, maz'd and lost, they miss, 

And down the darkling precipice 

Are dash'd into the deep abyss ; 

Or midway hang, impal'd on rocks, 

A banquet, yet alive, for flocks 

Of ravening vultures, — while the dell 

Re-echoes with each horrible yell. 

Those sounds — the last, to vengeance dear, 
That e'er shall ring in Hafed's ear, — 
Now reach'd him, as aloft, alone, 
Upon the steep way breathless thrown, 
He lay beside his reeking blade, 

Resign'd, as if life's task were o'er, 
Its last blood-offering amply paid, 

And Iran's self could claim no more. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 



319 



One only thought, one lingering beam 
Now broke across his dizzy dream 
Of pain and weariness — 'twas she, 

His heart's pure planet, shining yet 
Above the waste of memory, 

When all life's other lights were set. 
And never to his mind before 
Her image such enchantment wore. 
It seem'd as if each thought that stain'd, 

Each fear that chill'd their loves was past, 
And not one cloud of earth remain'd 

Between him and her radiance cast ; — 
As if to charms, before so bright, 

New grace from other worlds was given, 
And his soul saw her by the light 

Now breaking o'er itself from heaven ! 



A voice spoke near him — 'twas the tone 

Of a lov'd friend, the only one 

Of all his warriors, left with life 

From that short night's tremendous strife. — 



320 LALLA ROOKH. 



" And must we then, my Chief, die here ? 
" Foes round us, and the Shrine so near ! " 
These words have rous'd the last remains 

Of life within him — " what ! not yet 
" Beyond the reach of Moslem chains ! " 

The thought could make ev'n Death forget 
His icy bondage — with a bound 
He springs, all bleeding, from the ground, 
And grasps his comrade's arm, now grown 
Ev'n feebler, heavier than his own, 
And up the painful pathway leads, 
Death gaining on each step he treads. 
Speed them, thou God, who heard'st their vow ! 
They mount — they bleed — oh, save them now!- 
The crags are red they've clamber'd o'er, 
The rock-weed's dripping with their gore ; — 
Thy blade too, Hafed, false at length, 
Now breaks beneath thy tottering strength ! 
Haste, haste — the voices of the Foe 
Come near and nearer from below — 
One effort more — thank Heaven! 'tis past, 
They've gain'd the topmost steep at last. 



If' 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 



321 



And now they touch the temple's walls, 

Now Hafed sees the Fire divine — 
When, lo ! — his weak, worn comrade falls 

Dead on the threshold of the Shrine. 
" Alas, brave soul, too quickly fled ! 

" And must I leave thee withering here, 
" The sport of every ruffian's tread, 

" The mark for every coward's spear ? 
" No, by yon altar's sacred beams ! " 
He cries, and, with a strength that seems 
Not of this world, uplifts the frame 
Of the fall'n Chief, and tow'rds the flame 
Bears him along ; — with death-damp hand 

The corpse upon the pyre he lays, 
Then lights the consecrated brand, 

And fires the pile, whose sudden blaze 
Like lightning bursts o'er Oman's Sea. — 
" Now, Freedom's God ! I come to Thee," 
The youth exclaims, and with a smile 
Of triumph vaulting on the pile, 
In that last effort, ere the fires 
Have harm'd one glorious limb, expires ! 



322 LALLA ROOKH. 



What shriek was that on Oman's tide ? 

It came from yonder drifting bark, 
That just hath caught upon her side 

The death-light — and again is dark. 
It is the boat — ah, why delay 'd? — 
That bears the wretched Moslem maid ; 
Confided to the watchful care 

Of a small veteran band, with whom 
Their generous Chieftain would not share 

The secret of his final doom, 
But hop'd when Htnda, safe and free, 

Was render'd to her father's eyes, 
Their pardon, full and prompt, would be 

The ransom of so dear a prize. — 
Unconscious, thus, of Hafed's fate, 
And proud to guard their beauteous freight, 
Scarce had they clear'd the surfy waves 
That foam around those frightful caves, 
When the curst war-whoops, known so well, 
Came echoing from the distant dell — 
Sudden each oar, upheld and still, 

Hung dripping o'er the vessel's side, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 323 

And, driving at the current's will, 

They rock'd along the whispering tide ; 

While every eye, in mute dismay, 

Was tow'rd that fatal mountain turn'd, 

Where the dim altar's quivering ray 
As yet all lone and tranquil burn'd. 

Oh ! 'tis not, Hind a, in the power 

Of Fancy's most terrific touch 
To paint thy pangs in that dread hour — 

Thy silent agony — 'twas such 
As those who feel could paint too well, 
But none e'er felt and liv'd to tell ! 
'Twas not alone the dreary state 
Of a lorn spirit, crush'd by fate, 
When, though no more remains to dread, 

The panic chill will not depart ; — 
When, though the inmate Hope be dead, 

Her ghost still haunts the mouldering heart. 
No — pleasures, hopes, affections gone, 
The wretch may bear, and yet live on, 



324 LALLA ROOKH. 



Like things, within the cold rock found 

Alive, when all's congeal'd around. 

But there's a blank repose in this, 

A calm stagnation, that were bliss 

To the keen, burning, harrowing pain, 

Now felt through all thy breast and brain ; — 

That spasm of terror, mute, intense, 

That breathless, agonis'd suspense, 

From whose hot throb, whose deadly aching, 

The heart hath no relief but breaking ! 

Calm is the wave — heaven's brilliant lights 

Reflected dance beneath the prow ; — 
Time was when, on such lovely nights, 

She who is there, so desolate now, 
Could sit all cheerful, though alone, 

And ask no happier joy than seeing 
That star-light o'er the waters thrown — 
No joy but that, to make her blest, 

And the fresh, buoyant sense of Being, 
Which bounds in youth's yet careless breast, — 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 325 

Itself a star, not borrowing light, 
But in its own glad essence bright. 
How different now ! — but, hark, again 
The yell of havoc rings — brave men ! 
In vain, with beating hearts, ye stand 
On the bark's edge — in vain each hand 
Half draws the falchion from its sheath ; 

All's o'er — in rust your blades may lie: — 
He, at whose word they've scatter'd death, 

Ev'n now, this night, himself must die ! 
Well may ye look to yon dim tower, 

And ask, and wondering guess what means 
The battle-cry at this dead hour — 

Ah ! she could tell you — she, who leans 
Unheeded there, pale, sunk, aghast, 
With brow against the dew-cold mast ; — 

Too well she knows — her more than life, 
Her soul's first idol and its last, 

Lies bleeding in that murderous strife. 

But see— what moves upon the height? 
Some signal ! — 'tis a torch's light. 



326 LALLA ROOKH. 



What bodes its solitary glare ? 
In gasping silence tow'rd the Shrine 
All eyes are turn'd — thine, Hind A, thine 

Fix their last fading life-beams there. 
'Twas but a moment — fierce and high 
The death-pile blaz'd into the sky, 
And far away, o'er rock and flood 

Its melancholy radiance sent ; 
While Hafed, like a vision, stood 
Reveal'd before the burning pyre, 
Tall, shadowy, like a Spirit of Fire 

Shrin'd in its own grand element ! 
" 'Tis he ! " — the shuddering maid exclaims, 

But, while she speaks, he's seen no more ; 
High burst in air the funeral flames, 

And Iran's hopes and hers are o'er ! 

One wild, heart-broken shriek she gave ; 
Then sprung, as if to reach that blaze, 
Where still she fix'd her dying gaze, — 

And, gazing, sunk into the wave, 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 



327 



Deep, deep, — where never care or pain 
Shall reach her innocent heart again ! 



Farewell — farewell to thee, Araby's daughter! 

(Thus warbled a Peri beneath the dark sea,) 
No pearl ever lay, under Oman's green water, 

More pure in its shell than thy Spirit in thee. 

Oh ! fair as the sea-flower close to thee growing, 
How light was thy heart till Love's witchery came, 

Like the wind of the south * o'er a summer lute blowing, 
And hush'd all its music, and wither'd its frame ! 

But long, upon Araby's green sunny highlands, 
Shall maids and their lovers remember the doom 

Of her, who lies sleeping among the Pearl Islands, 
With nought but the sea-star f to light up her tomb. 



* " This wind (the Samoor) so softens the strings of lutes, that 
they can never be tuned while it lasts." — Stephen's Persia. 

f " One of the greatest curiosities found in the Persian Gulf 
is a fish which the English call Star-fish. It is circular, and at 



328 LALLA ROOKH. 



And still, when the merry date-season is burning,* 
And calls to the palm-groves the young and the old, 

The happiest there, from their pastime returning 
At sunset, will weep when thy story is told. 

The young village-maid, when with flowers she dresses 
Her dark flowing hair for some festival day, 

Will think of thy fate till, neglecting her tresses, 
She mournfully turns from the mirror away. 

Nor shall Iran, belov'd of her Hero ! forget thee — 
Though tyrants watch over her tears as they start, 

Close, close by the side of that Hero she'll set thee, 
Embalm'd in the innermost shrine of her heart. 

Farewell — be it ours to embellish thy pillow 

With every thing beauteous that grows in the deep ; 



night very luminous, resembling the full moon surrounded by rays." 
— Mirza Abu Taleb. 

* For a description of the merriment of the date-time, of their 
work, their dances, and their return home from the palm-groves at 
the end of autumn with the fruits, see Kempfer, Amcenitat. Exot. 



THE FIRE- WORSHIPPERS. 329 

Each flower of the rock and each gem of the billow 
Shall sweeten thy bed and illumine thy sleep. 

Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber 
That ever the sorrowing sea-bird has wept; * 

With many a shell, in whose hollow-wreath'd chamber 
We, Peris of Ocean, by moonlight have slept. 

We'll dive where the gardens of coral lie darkling, 
And plant all the rosiest stems at thy head ; 

We'll seek where the sands of the Caspian f are sparkling, 
And gather their gold to strew over thy bed. 

Farewell — farewell — until Pity's sweet fountain 
Is lost in the hearts of the fair and the brave, 

They'll weep for the Chieftain who died on that moun- 
tain, 
They'll weep for the Maiden who sleeps in this wave. 



* Some naturalists have imagined that amber is a concretion of 
the tears of birds. — See Trevoux, Chambers. 

| " The bay Kieselarke, which is otherwise called the Golden 
Bay, the sand whereof shines as fire." — Strut/. 



330 LALLA ROOKH. 



The singular placidity with which Fadladeen had 
listened, during the latter part of this obnoxious story, 
surprised the Princess and Feramorz exceedingly ; and 
even inclined towards him the hearts of these unsuspi- 
cious young persons, who little knew the source of a 
complacency so marvellous. The truth was, he had 
been organizing, for the last few days, a most notable 
plan of persecution against the poet, in consequence of 
some passages that had fallen from him on the second 
evening of recital, — which appeared to this worthy 
Chamberlain to contain language and principles, for 
which nothing short of the summary criticism of the 
Chabuk* would be advisable. It was his intention, 
therefore, immediately on their arrival at Cashmere, to 
give information to the King of Bucharia of the very 
dangerous sentiments of his minstrel; and if, unfor- 

* The application of whips or rods." — Dubois. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



331 



tunately, that monarch did not act with suitable vigour 
on the occasion, (that is, if he did not give the Chabuk 
to Feramorz, and a place to Fadladeen,) there 
would be an end, he feared, of all legitimate govern- 
ment in Bucharia. He could not help, however, 
auguring better both for himself and the cause of 
potentates in general ; and it was the pleasure arising 
from these mingled anticipations that diffused such 
unusual satisfaction through his features, and made his 
eyes shine out, like poppies of the desert, over the wide 
and lifeless wilderness of that countenance. 



Having decided upon the Poet's chastisement in this 
manner, he thought it but humanity to spare him the 
minor tortures of criticism. Accordingly, when they 
assembled the following evening in the pavilion, and 
Laela Eookh was expecting to see all the beauties 
of her bard melt away, one by one, in the acidity of 
criticism, like pearls in the cup of the Egyptian queen, 
— he agreeably disappointed her, by merely saying, 
with an ironical smile, that the merits of such a poem 
deserved to be tried at a much higher tribunal; and 



332 LALLA ROOKH. 



then suddenly passed off into a panegyric upon all Mus- 
sulman sovereigns, more particularly his august and 
Imperial master, Aurungzebe, — the wisest and best 
of the descendants of Timur, — who, among other great 
things he had done for mankind, had given to him, 
Fadladeen, the very profitable posts of Betel-carrier, 
and Taster of Sherbets to the Emperor, Chief Holder 
of the Girdle of Beautiful Forms*, and Grand Nazir, 
or Chamberlain of the Haram. 

They were now not far from that Forbidden River f , 
beyond which no pure Hindoo can pass ; and were 
reposing for a time in the rich valley of Hussun 



* Kempfer mentions such an officer among the attendants of the 
King of Persia, and calls him " formae corporis estimator." His 
business was, at stated periods, to measure the ladies of the Haram 
by a sort of regulation-girdle, whose limits it was not thought 
graceful to exceed. If any of them outgrew this standard of shape, 
they were reduced by abstinence till they came within proper 
bounds. 

f The Attock. 

" Akbar on his way ordered a fort to be built upon the Nilab, 
which he called Attock, which means in the Indian language For- 
bidden ; for, by the superstition of the Hindoos, it was held unlawful 
to cross that river." — Dow's Hindostan. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



333 



Abdaul, which had always been a favourite resting- 
place of the Emperors in their annual migrations to 
Cashmere. Here often had the Light of the Faith, 
Jehan-Guire, been known to wander with his beloved 
and beautiful Nourmahal; and here would Lalla 
Rookh have been happy to remain for ever, giving up 
the throne of Bucharia and the world, for Feramorz 
and love in this sweet, lonely valley. But the time 
was now fast approaching when she must see him no 
longer, — or, what was still worse, behold him with 
eyes whose every look belonged to another ; and there 
was a melancholy preciousness in these last moments, 
which made her heart cling to them as it would to life. 
During the latter part of the journey, indeed, she had 
sunk into a deep sadness, from which nothing but the 
presence of the young minstrel could awake her. Like 
those lamps in tombs, which only light up when the 
air is admitted, it was only at his approach that her 
eyes became smiling and animated. But here, in this 
dear valley, every moment appeared an age of pleasure ; 
she saw him all day, and was, therefore, all day happy, 
— resembling, she often thought, that people of Zinge, 



334 LALLA ROOKH. 



who attribute the unfading cheerfulness they enjoy to 
one genial star that rises nightly over their heads. * 

The whole party, indeed, seemed in their liveliest 
mood during the few days they passed in this delightful 
solitude. The young attendants of the Princess, who 
were here allowed a much freer range than they could 
safely be indulged with in a less sequestered place, ran 
wild among the gardens and bounded through the 
meadows, lightly as young roes over the aromatic 
plains of Tibet. While Fadladeen, in addition to 
the spiritual comfort derived by him from a pilgrimage 
to the tomb of the Saint from whom the valley is 



* " The inhabitants of this country (Zinge) are never afflicted 
with sadness or melancholy ; on this subject the Sheikh Abu-Al- 
Kheir-AzTiari has the following distich : — 

" ' Who is the man without care or sorrow, (tell) that I may rub 
my hand to him. 

" ' (Behold) the Zingians, without care or sorrow, frolicksome 
with tipsiness and mirth.' 

" The philosophers have discovered that the cause of this cheer- 
fulness proceeds from the influence of the star Soheil or Canopus, 
which rises over them every night." — Extract from a Geographical 
Persian Manuscript called Heft Aklim, or the Seven Climates, trans- 
lated by W. Ouseley, Esq. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



335 



named, had also opportunities of indulging, in a small 
way, his taste for victims, by putting to death some 
hundreds of those unfortunate little lizards *, which all 
pious Mussulmans make it a point to kill; — taking 
for granted, that the manner in which the creature 
hangs its head is meant as a mimicry of the attitude in 
which the Faithful say their prayers. 

About two miles from Hussun Abdaul were those 
Royal Gardens f , which had grown beautiful under the 
care of so many lovely eyes, and were beautiful still, 
though those eyes could see them no longer. This place, 
with its flowers and its holy silence, interrupted only by 
the dipping of the wings of birds in its marble basins 
filled with the pure water of those hills, was to Lalla 
Rookh all that her heart could fancy of fragrance, 
coolness, and almost heavenly tranquillity. As the 



* " The lizard Stellio. The Arabs call it Hardun. The Turks 
kill it, for they imagine that by declining the head it mimics them 
when they say their prayers." — Hasselquist 

| For these particulars respecting Hussun Abdaul, I am indebted 
to the very interesting Introduction of Mr. Elphinstone's work upon 
Caubul. 



336 LALLA ROOKH. 



Prophet said of Damascus, " it was too delicious * ; " — 
and here, in listening to the sweet voice of Feramorz, 
or reading in his eyes what yet he never dared to tell 
her, the most exquisite moments of her whole life were 
passed. One evening, when they had been talking of 
the Sultana Nourmahal, the Light of the Haram f , who 
had so often wandered among these flowers, and fed 
with her own hands, in those marble basins, the small 
shining fishes of which she was so fond J, — the youth, 
in order to delay the moment of separation, proposed 
to recite a short story, or rather rhapsody, of which this 
adored Sultana was the heroine. It related, he said, to 



* " As you enter at that Bazar, without the gate of Damascus, 
you see the Green Mosque, so called because it hath a steeple faced 
with green glazed bricks, which render it very resplendent ; it is 
covered at top with a pavilion of the same stuff. The Turks say 
this mosque was made in that place, because Mahomet being come 
so far, would not enter the town, saying it was too delicious." — 
Thevenot This reminds one of the following pretty passage in 
Isaac Walton: — "When I sat last on this primrose bank, and 
looked down these meadows, I thought of them as Charles the Em- 
peror did of the city of Florence, ' that they were too pleasant to 
be looked on, but only on holidays.' " 

"j" Nourmahal signifies Light of the Haram. She was afterwards 
called Nourjehan, or the Light of the World. 

\ See note, p. 265. 






LALLA ROOKH. 



337 



the reconcilement of a sort of lovers' quarrel which took 
place between her and the Emperor during a Feast of 
Roses at Cashmere ; and would remind the Princess of 
that difference between Haroun-al-Raschid and his fair 
mistress Marida *, which was so happily made up by the 
soft strains of the musician, Moussali. As the story 
was chiefly to be told in song, and Feramorz had un- 
luckily forgotten his own lute in the valley, he borrowed 
the vina of Lalla Rookh's little Persian slave, and 
thus began : — 



* " Haroun Al Raschid, cinquienie Khalife des Abassides, s'etant 
un jour brouille avec une de ses maitresses nommee Maridah, qu'il 
aimoit cependant jusqu'a l'exces, et cette inesintelligence ayant deja 
duree quelque terns commenca a s'ennuyer, Giafar Barmaki, son 
favori, qui s'en appercut, commanda a Abbas ben Ahnaf, excellent 
poete de ce tems-la, de composer quelques vers sur le sujet de cette 
brouillerie. Ce poete executa l'ordre de Giafar, qui fit chanter ces 
vers par Moussali en presence du Khalife, et ce Prince fut tellement 
touche de la tendresse des vers du poete et de la douceur de la voix 
du musicien, qu'il alia aussi-tot trouver Maridah, et fit sa paix avec 
elle."— UHerMot 



338 LALLA ROOKH. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM 



Who has not heard of the vale of Cashmere, 

With its roses the brightest that earth ever gave,* 

Its temples, and grottos, and fountains as clear 

As the love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave ? 

Oh ! to see it at sunset, — when warm o'er the Lake 
Its splendour at parting a summer eve throws, 

Like a bride, full of blushes, when ling'ring to take 
A last look of her mirror at night ere she goes ! — 

When the shrines through the foliage are gleaming half 
shown, 

And each hallows the hour by some rites of its own. 



* " The rose of Kashmire for its brilliancy and delicacy of odour 
has long been proverbial in the East." — Forster. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 



339 



Here the music of pray'r from a minaret swells, 

Here the Magian his urn, full of perfume, is swinging, 
And here, at the altar, a zone of sweet bells 

Round the waist of some fair Indian dancer is ringing.* 
Or to see it by moonlight, — when mellowly shines 
The light o'er its palaces, gardens, and shrines ; 
When the water-falls gleam, like a quick fall of stars, 
And the nightingale's hymn from the Isle of Chenars 
Is broken by laughs and light echoes of feet 
From the cool, shining walks where the young people 

meet. — 
Or at morn, when the magic of daylight awakes 
A new wonder each minute, as slowly it breaks, 
Hills, cupolas, fountains, call'd forth every one 
Out of darkness, as if but just born of the Sun. 
When the Spirit of Fragrance is up with the day, 
From his Haram of night-flowers stealing away ; 
And the wind, full of wantonness, woos like a lover 
The young aspen-trees f , till they tremble all over. 



* " Tied round her waist the zone of bells, that sounded with ra- 
vishing melody." — Song of Jayadeva. 

■j" " The little isles in the Lake of Cachemire are set with arbours 
and large-leaved aspen-trees, slender and tall." — Bernier. 



340 LALLA ROOKH. 



When the East is as warm as the light of first hopes, 
And Day, with his banner of radiance unfurl'd, 

Shines in through the mountainous portal* that opes, 
Sublime, from that Valley of bliss to the world ! 

But never yet, by night or day, 
In dew of spring or summer's ray, 
Did the sweet Valley shine so gay 
As now it shines — all love and light, 
Visions by day and feasts by night ! 
A happier smile illumes each brow, 

With quicker spread each heart uncloses, 
And all is ecstasy — for now 

The Valley holds its Feast of Roses ; f 
The joyous Time, when pleasures pour 
Profusely round, and, in their shower, 



* " The Tuckt Suliman, the name bestowed by the Mahom- 
etans on this hill, forms one side of a grand portal to the Lake.' 
— Forster. 

| " The Feast of Roses continues the whole time of their re- 
maining in bloom." — See Pietro de la Valle. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 



341 



Hearts open, like the Season's Rose, — 
The Flow'ret of a hundred leaves, * 

Expanding while the dew-fall flows, 
And every leaf its balm receives. 

'Twas when the hour of evening came 

Upon the Lake, serene and cool, 
When Day had hid his sultry flame 

Behind the palms of Baramoule, f 
When maids began to lift their heads, 
Refresh'd from their embroider'd beds, 
Where they had slept the sun away, 
And wak'd to moonlight and to play. 
All were abroad — the busiest hive 
On Bela'sJ hills is less alive, 
When saffron-beds are full in flower, 
Than look'd the Vallev in that hour. 



* " Gul sad berk, the Rose of a hundred leaves. I believe a 
particular species." — Ouseley. 

j" Bernier. 

\ A place mentioned in the Toozek Jehangeery, or Memoirs of 
Jehanguire, where there is an account of the beds of saffron-flowers 
about Cashmere. 



342 LALLA ROOKH. 



A thousand restless torches play'd 
Through every grove and island shade ; 
A thousand sparkling lamps were set 
On every dome and minaret ; 
And fields and pathways, far and near, 
Were lighted by a blaze so clear, 
That you could see, in wandering round, 
The smallest rose-leaf on the ground. 
Yet did the maids and matrons leave 
Their veils at home, that brilliant eve ; 
And there were glancing eyes about, 
And cheeks, that would not dare shine out 
In open day, but thought they might 
Look lovely then, because 'twas night. 
And all were free, and wandering, 

And all exclaim'd to all they met, 
That never did the summer brino* 

o 

So gay a Feast of Roses yet ; — 
The moon had never shed a light 

So clear as that which bless'd them there 
The roses ne'er shone half so bright, 

Nor they themselves look'd half so fair. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 



343 



And what a wilderness of flowers ! 
It seem'd as though from all the bowers 
And fairest fields of all the year, 
The mingled spoil were scatter'd here. 
The Lake, too, like a garden breathes, 

With the rich buds that o'er it lie, — 
As if a shower of fairy wreaths 

Had fallen upon it from the sky ! 
And then the sounds of joy, — the beat 
Of tabors and of dancing feet ; — 
The minaret-crier's chaunt of glee 
Sung from his lighted gallery,* 
And answered by a ziraleet 
From neighbouring Haram, wild and sweet ; 
The merry laughter, echoing 
From gardens, where the silken swing f 



* " It is the custom among the women to employ the Maazeen 
to chaunt from the gallery of the nearest minaret, which on that 
occasion is illuminated, and the women assembled at the house re- 
spond at intervals with a ziraleet or joyous chorus." — Russell. 

f " The swing is a favourite pastime in the East, as promoting a 
circulation of air, extremely refreshing in those sultry climates." 
— Richardson. 

" The swings are adorned with festoons. This pastime is accom- 



344 LALLA ROOKH. 



Wafts some delighted girl above 
The top leaves of the orange-grove ; 
Or, from those infant groups at play 
Among the tents * that line the way. 
Flinging, unaw'd by slave or mother, 
Handfuls of roses at each other. — 
Then, the sounds from the Lake, — the low whispering 
in boats, 

As they shoot through the moonlight ; — the dip- 
ping of oars, 
And the wild, airy warbling that every where floats, 

Through the groves, round the islands, as if all the 
shores, 
Like those of Kathat, utter'd music, and gave 
An answer in song to the kiss of each wave, f 

panied with music of voices and of instruments, hired by the 
masters of the swings." — Thevenot. 

* " At the keeping of the Feast of Roses we beheld an infinite 
number of tents pitched, with such a crowd of men, women, boys, 
and girls, with music, dances," &c. &c. — Herbert. 

f " An old commentator of the Chou-King says, the ancients 
having remarked that a current of water made some of the stones 
near its banks send forth a sound, they detached some of them, and 
being charmed with the delightful sound they emitted, constructed 
King or musical instruments of them." — Grosier. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 345 

But the gentlest of all are those sounds, full of feeling, 

That soft from the lute of some lover are stealing, — 

Some lover, who knows all the heart-touching power 

Of a lute and a sigh in this magical hour. 

Oh ! best of delights as it every where is 

To be near the lov'd One, — what a rapture is his 

Who in moonlight and music thus sweetly may glide 

O'er the Lake of Cashmere, with that One by his side ! 

If woman can make the worst wilderness dear, 

Think, think what a Heav'n she must make of Cashmere ! 

So felt the magnificent Son of Acbar,* 

When from power and pomp and the trophies of war 

He flew to that Valley, forgetting them all 

With the Light of the Haram, his young Nourmahal. 

When free and uncrown'd as the Conqueror rov'd 

By the banks of that Lake, with his only belov'd, 



This miraculous quality has been attributed also to the shore of 
Attica. . " Hujus littus, ait Capella, concentuni musicum illisis terrse 
undis reddere, quod propter tantaui eruditionis vim puto dictum." 
— Ludov. Vives in Augustin. de Civitat. Dei, lib. xviii. c. 8. 

* Jehanguire was the son of the Great Acbar. 



346 LALLA ROOKH. 



He saw, in the wreaths she would playfully snatch 
From the hedges, a glory his crown could not match, 
And preferr'd in his heart the least ringlet that curl'd 
Down her exquisite neck to the throne of the world. 

There's a beauty, for ever unchangingly bright, 
Like the long, sunny lapse of a summer-day's light, 
Shining on, shining on, by no shadow made tender, 
Till Love falls asleep in its sameness of splendour. 
This was not the beauty — oh, nothing like this, 
That to young Notjrmahal gave such magic of bliss ! 
But that loveliness, ever in motion, which plays 
Like the light upon autumn's soft shadowy days, 
Now here and now there, giving warmth as it flies 
From the lip to the cheek, from the cheek to the eyes ; 
Now melting in mist and now breaking in gleams, 
Like the glimpses a saint hath of Heaven in his dreains. 
When pensive, it seem'd as if that very grace, 
That charm of all others, was born with her face ! 
And when angry, — for ev'n in the tranquillest climes 
Light breezes will ruffle the blossoms sometimes — 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 347 

The short, passing anger but seem'd to awaken 

New beauty, like flowers that are sweetest when shaken. 

If tenderness touch'd her, the dark of her eye 

At once took a darker, a heavenlier dye, 

From the depth of whose shadow, like holy revealings 

From innermost shrines, came the light of her feelings. 

Then her mirth — oh ! 'twas sportive as ever took wing 

From the heart with a burst, like the wild-bird in spring ; 

Illum'd by a wit that would fascinate sages, 

Yet playful as Peris just loos'd from their cages. * 

While her laugh, full of life, without any control 

But the sweet one of gracefulness, rung from her soul : 

And where it most sparkled no glance could discover, 

In lip, cheek, or eyes, for she brighten'd all over, — 

Like any fair lake that the breeze is upon, 

When it breaks into dimples and laughs in the sun. 

Such, such were the peerless enchantments, that gave 

Nourmahal the proud Lord of the East for her slave : 



* In the wars of the Dives with the Peris, whenever the former 
took the latter prisoners, " they shut them up in iron cages, and 
hung them on the highest trees. Here they were visited by their 
companions, who brought them the choicest odours." — Richardson. 



348 LALLA ROOKH. 



And though bright was his Harara, — a living parterre 
Of the flow'rs* of this planet — though treasures were 

there, 
For which Soliman's self might have giv'n all the store 
That the navy from Ophir e'er wing'd to his shore, 
Yet dim before her were the smiles of them all, 
And the Light of his Haram was young Nourmahal ! 

But where is she now, this night of joy, 

When bliss is every heart's employ ? — 

When all around her is so bright, 

So like the visions of a trance, 

That one might think, who came by chance 

Into the vale this happy night, 

He saw that City of Delight f 

In Fairy-land, whose streets and towers 

Are made of gems and light and flowers ! — 

Where is the lov'd Sultana ? where, 

When mirth brings out the young and fair, 



* In the Malay language the same word signifies women and 
flowers. 

f The capital of Shadukiam. See note, p. 184. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 349 

Does she, the fairest, hide her brow, 
In melancholy stillness now ? 

Alas ! — how light a cause may move 

Dissension between hearts that love ! 

Hearts that the world in vain had tried, 

And sorrow but more closely tied ; 

That stood the storm, when waves were rough, 

Yet in a sunny hour fall off, 

Like ships that have gone down at sea, 

When heaven was all tranquillity ! 

A something, light as air — a look, 

A word unkind or wrongly taken — 
Oh ! love, that tempests never shook, 

A breath, a touch like this hath shaken. 
And ruder words will soon rush in 
To spread the breach that words begin ; 
And eyes forget the gentle ray 
They wore in courtship's smiling day ; 
And voices lose the tone that shed 
A tenderness round all they said ; 



350 LALLA ROOKH. 



Till fast declining, one by one, 
The sweetnesses of love are gone, 
And hearts, so lately mingled, seem 
Like broken clouds, — or like the stream, 
That smiling left the mountain's brow 

As though its waters ne'er could sever, 
Yet, ere it reach the plain below, 

Breaks into floods, that part for ever. 

Oh, you, that have the charge of Love, 
Keep him in rosy bondage bound, 

As in the Fields of Bliss above 

He sits, with flow'rets fetter'd round ; — * 

Loose not a tie that round him clings, 

Nor ever let him use his wings ; 

For ev'n an hour, a minute's flight 

Will rob the plumes of half their light. 

Like that celestial bird, — whose nest 
Is found beneath far Eastern skies, — 



* See the representation of the Eastern Cupid, pinioned closely 
round with wreaths of flowers, in Picarfs Ceremonies Religieuses. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 351 

Whose wings, though radiant when at rest, 
Lose all their glory when he flies ! * 

Some difference, of this dangerous kind, — 

By which, though light, the links that bind 

The fondest hearts may soon be riven ; 

Some shadow in Love's summer heaven, 

Which, though a fleecy speck at first, 

May yet in awful thunder burst ; — 

Such cloud it is, that now hangs over 

The heart of the Imperial Lover, 

And far hath banish'd from his sight 

His Nourmahal, his Haram's Light ! 

Hence is it, on this happy night, 

When Pleasure through the fields and groves 

Has let loose all her world of loves, 

And every heart has found its own, 

He wanders, joyless and alone, 



* " Among the birds of Tonquin is a species of goldfinch, which 
sings so melodiously that it is called the Celestial Bird. Its wings, 
when it is perched, appear variegated with beautiful colours, but 
when it flies they lose all their splendour." — Grosier. 



352 LALLA ROOKH. 



And weary as that bird of Thrace, 
Whose pinion knows no resting-place.* 
In vain the loveliest cheeks and eyes 
This Eden of the Earth supplies 

Come crowding round — the cheeks are pale, 
The eyes are dim : — though rich the spot 
With every now'r this earth has got, 

What is it to the nightingale, 
If there his darling rose is not ? f 
In vain the Valley's smiling throng 
Worship him, as he moves along ; 
He heeds them not — one smile of hers 
Is worth a world of worshippers. 
They but the Star's adorers are, 
She is the Heaven that lights the Star ! 

Hence is it, too, that Nourmahal, 
Amid the luxuries of this hour, 

* " As these birds on the Bosphorus are never known to rest, 
they are called by the French ' les ames damnees.' " — Dalloway. 

f " You may place a hundred handfuls of fragrant herbs and 
flowers before the nightingale, yet he wishes not, in his constant 
heart, for' more than the sweet breath of his beloved rose." — Jami. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 353 

Far from the joyous festival, 

Sits in her own sequester'd bower, 
With no one near, to soothe or aid, 
But that inspir'd and wond'rous maid, 
Namouna, the Enchantress ; — one, 
O'er whom his race the golden sun 
For unremember'd years has run, 
Yet never saw her blooming brow 
Younger or fairer than 'tis now. 
Nay, rather, — as the west wind's sigh 
Freshens the flower it passes by, — 
Time's wing but seem'd, in stealing o'er, 
To leave her lovelier than before. 
Yet on her smiles a sadness hung, 
And when, as oft, she spoke or sung 
Of other worlds, there came a light 
From her dark eyes so strangely bright, 
That all believ'd nor man nor earth 
Were conscious of Namouna's birth ! 

All spells and talismans she knew, 

From the great Mantra, which around 



354 LALLA ROOKH. 



The Air's sublimer Spirits drew,* 

To the gold gems f of Afric, bound 
Upon the wandering Arab's arm, 
To keep him from the Siltim's J harm. 
And she had pledg'd her powerful art, — 
Pledg'd it with all the zeal and heart 
Of one who knew, though high her sphere, 
What 'twas to lose a love so dear, — 
To find some spell that should recall 
Her Selim's § smile to Nourmahal ! 

'Twas midnight — through the lattice, wreath'd 
With woodbine, many a perfume breath'd 
From plants that wake when others sleep, 
From timid jasmine buds, that keep 



* " He is said to have found the great Mantra, spell or talisman, 
through which he ruled over the elements and spirits of all denomi- 
nations." — Wilford. 

-j- " The gold jewels of Jinnie, which are called by the Arabs El 
Herrez, from the supposed charm they contain." — Jackson. 

| " A demon, supposed to haunt woods, &c. in a human shape." 
— Richardson. 

§ The name of Jehanguire before his accession to the throne. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 355 

Their odour to themselves all day, 

But, when the sun-light dies away, 

Let the delicious secret out 

To every breeze that roams about ; — 

When thus Namouna : — " 'Tis the hour 

" That scatters spells on herb and flower, 

" And garlands might be gather'd now, 

" That, twin'd around the sleeper's brow, 

" Would make him dream of such delights, 

" Such miracles and dazzling sights, 

cc As Genii of the Sun behold, 

" At evening, from their tents of gold 

" Upon the' horizon — where they play 

" Till twilight comes, and, ray by ray, 

" Their sunny mansions melt away. 

" Now, too, a chaplet might be wreath'd 

a Of buds o'er which the moon has breath'd, 

" Wliich worn by her, whose love has stray 'd, 

" Might bring some Peri from the skies, 
" Some sprite, whose very soul is made 

" Of flow'rets' breaths and lovers' sighs, 
" And who mio-ht tell " 



356 LALLA ROOKH. 



" For me, for me," 
Cried Noukmahal impatiently, — 
" Oh ! twine that wreath for me to-night." 
Then, rapidly, with foot as light 
As the young musk-roe's, out she flew, 
To cull each shining leaf that grew 
Beneath the moonlight's hallowing beams, 
For this enchanted Wreath of Dreams. 
Anemones and Seas of Gold, * 

And new-blown lilies of the river, 
And those sweet flow'rets, that unfold 

Their buds on Camadeya's quiver ; f 
The tube-rose, with her silvery light, 

That in the Gardens of Malay 
Is call'd the Mistress of the Night, I 
So like a bride, scented and bright, 

She comes out when the sun's away ; — 

* " Heinasagara, or the Sea of Gold, with flowers of the brightest 
gold colour." — Sir W. Jones. 

•j* " This tree (the Nagacesara) is one of the most delightful on 
earth, and the delicious odour of its blossoms justly gives them a 
place in the quiver of Camadeva, or the God of Love." — Id. 

I " The Malayans style the tube-rose (Polianthes tuberosa) 
Sandal Malam, or the Mistress of the Night." — Pennant. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 357 

Amaranths, such as crown the maids 
That wander through Zamara's shades; — * 
And the white moon-flower, as it shows, 
On Serendib's high crags, to those 
Who near the isle at evening sail, 
Scenting her clove-trees in the gale ; 
In short, all flow'rets and all plants, 

From the divine Amrita tree,f 
That blesses heaven's inhabitants 

With fruits of immortality, 
Down to the basil tuft J, that waves 
Its fragrant blossom over graves, 

And to the humble rosemary, 



* The people of the Batta country in Sumatra (of which Zamara 
is one of the ancient names), " when not engaged in war, lead an 
idle, inactive life, passing the day in playing on a kind of flute, 
crowned with garlands of flowers, among which the globe-amaran- 
thus, a native of the country, mostly prevails." — Marsden. 

■j" " The largest and richest sort (of the Jambu, or rose-apple,) is 
called Amrita, or immortal, and the mythologists of Tibet apply 
the same word to a celestial tree, bearing ambrosial fruit." — Sir 
W. Jones. 

\ Sweet basil, called Rayhan in Persia, and generally found in 
churchyards. 

" The women in Egypt go, at least two days in the week, to pray 




i*^Ww-¥ !'■ 






I: :■ ■'! lilC 

Sp ke - met] tog, past 

I ace, 






■ 



358 LALLA ROOKH. 



Whose sweets so thanklessly are shed 
To scent the desert * and the dead : — 
All in that garden bloom, and all 
Are gather'd by young Nourmahal, 
Who heaps her baskets with the flowers 

And leaves, till they can hold no more ; 
Then to Namouna flies, and showers 

Upon her lap the shining store. 

With what delight the' Enchantress views 

So many buds, bath'd with the dews 

And beams of that bless'd hour ! — her glance 

Spoke something, past all mortal pleasures, 
As, in a kind of holy trance, 

She hung above those fragrant treasures.. 
Bending to drink their balmy airs, 
As if she mix'd her soul with theirs. 



and weep at the sepulchres of the dead ; and the custom then is to 
throw upon the tombs a sort of herb, which the Arabs call rihan, 
and which is our sweet basil." — Maillet, Lett. 10. 

* " In the Great Desert are found many stalks of lavender and 
rosemary." — Asiat. Res, 








!: 

= -ill mortal pleasures, 
ltl<3 of lLoly trance. 



■'Pater. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 359 

And 'twas, indeed, the perfume shed 
From flow'rs and scented flame, that fed 
Her charmed life — for none had e'er 
Beheld her taste of mortal fare, 
Nor ever in aught earthly dip, 
But the morn's dew, her roseate lip. 
Fill'd with the cool, inspiring smell, 
The' Enchantress now begins her spell, 
Thus singing as she winds and weaves 
In mystic form the glittering leaves : — 



I know where the winged visions dwell 

That around the night-bed play ; 
I know each herb and flow'ret's bell, 
Where they hide their wings by day. 
Then hasten we, maid, 
To twine our braid, 
To-morrow the dreams and flowers will fade. 



360 LALLA ROOKH. 



The image of love, that nightly flies 

To visit the bashful maid, 
Steals from the jasmine flower, that sighs 

Its soul, like her, in the shade. 
The dream of a future, happier hour, 

That alights on misery's brow, 
Springs out of the silvery almond-flower, 

That blooms on a leafless bough. * 
Then hasten we, maid, 
To twine our braid, 
To-morrow the dreams and flowers will fade. 

The visions, that oft to worldly eyes 

The glitter of mines unfold, 
Inhabit the mountain-herb f , that dyes 

The tooth of the fawn like gold. 



* u 



The almond-tree, with white flowers, blossoms on the bare 
branches." — Hasselquist. 

"j* An herb on Mount Libanus, which is said to communicate a 
yellow golden hue to the teeth of the goats and other animals that 
graze upon it. 

Niebuhr thinks this may be the herb which the Eastern alchymists 
look to as a means of making gold. " Most of those alchymical en- 
thusiasts think themselves sure of success, if they could but find out 
the herb, which gilds the teeth and gives a yellow colour to the flesh 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 361 

The phantom shapes — oh touch not them — 

That appal the murderer's sight, 
Lurk in the fleshly mandrake's stem, 
That shrieks, when pluck'd at night ! 
Then hasten we, maid, 
To twine our braid, 
To-morrow the dreams and flowers will fade. 

The dream of the injur'd, patient mind, 

That smiles at the wrongs of men, 
Is found in the bruis'd and wounded rind 
Of the cinnamon, sweetest then. 
Then hasten we, maid, 
To twine our braid, 
To-morrow the dreams and flowers will fade. 



of the sheep that eat it. Even the oil of this plant must be of a 
golden colour. It is called Haschischat ed dab." 

Father Jerom Dandini, however, asserts that the teeth of the 
goats at Mount Libanus are of a silver colour ; and adds, " This 
confirms to me that which I observed in Candia : to wit, that the 
animals that live on Mount Ida eat a certain herb, which renders 
their teeth of a golden colour ; which, according to my judgment, 
cannot otherwise proceed than from the mines which are under 
ground." — Dandini, Voyage to Mount Libanus. 



362 LALLA ROOKH. 



No sooner was the flowery crown 

Plac'd on her head, than sleep came down, 

Gently as nights of summer fall, 

Upon the lids of Nourmahal ; — 

And, suddenly, a tuneful breeze, 

As full of small, rich harmonies 

As ever wind, that o'er the tents 

Of Azab * blew, was full of scents, 

Steals on her ear, and floats and swells, 

Like the first air of morning creeping 
Into those wreathy, Red- Sea shells, 

Where Love himself, of old, lay sleeping ; f 
And now a Spirit form'd, 'twould seem, 

Of music and of light, — so fair, 
So brilliantly his features beam, 

And such a sound is in the air 
Of sweetness when he waves his wings, — 
Hovers around her, and thus sings : 



* The myrrh country. 

f " This idea (of deities living in shells) was not unknown to the 
Greeks, who represent the young Nerites, one of the Cupids, as 
living in shells on the shores of the Red Sea." — Wilford, 




TM o sooner was Eke Ho-wer-y ctotvh 
I Lae'ci cm In i 

u ,-r fnli., 
ELe lids of ' N 01 TEMA [ LAI ; — 



■ 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 363 

From Chixdara's* warbling fount I come, 

Call'd by that moonlight garland's spell ; 
From Chixdara's fount, my fairy home, 

Where in music, morn and night, I dwell : 
Where lutes in the air are heard about, 

And voices are singing the whole day long. 
And every sigh the heart breathes out 
Is turn'd, as it leaves the lips, to song ! 
Hither I come 
From my fairy home, 
And if there's a magic in Music's strain, 
I swear by the breath 
Of that moonlight wreath. 
Thy Lover shall sigh at thy feet again. 

For mine is the lay that lightly floats, 
And mine are the murmuring, dying notes, 
That fall as soft as snow on the sea. 
And melt in the heart as instantly : — 



* " A fabulous fountain, where instruments are said to be con- 
stantly playing." — Richardson. 



364 LALLA ROOKH. 



And the passionate strain that, deeply going, 
Refines the bosom it trembles through, 

As the musk-wind, over the water blowing, 
Ruffles the wave, but sweetens it too. 

Mine is the charm, whose mystic sway 
The Spirits of past Delight obey ; — 
Let but the tuneful talisman sound, 
And they come, like Genii, hovering round. 
And mine is the gentle song that bears, 

From soul to soul, the wishes of love, 
As a bird, that wafts through genial airs 

The cinnamon-seed from grove to grove. * 

'Tis I that mingle in one sweet measure 

The past, the present, and future of pleasure ; | 

* " The Pompadour pigeon is the species, which, by carrying 
the fruit of the cinnamon to different places, is a great disseminator 
of this valuable tree." — See Brown's Illustr. Tab. 19. 

■J" " Whenever our pleasure arises from a succession of sounds, it 
is a perception of a complicated nature, made up of a sensation of 
the present sound or note, and an idea or remembrance of the fore- 
going, while their mixture and concurrence produce such a mys- 
terious delight, as neither could have produced alone. And it is 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 



365 



When Memory links the tone that is gone 
With the blissful tone that's still in the ear ; 

And Hope from a heavenly note flies on 
To a note more heavenly still that is near. 

The warrior's heart, when touch'd by me, 

Can as downy soft and as yielding be 

As his own white plume, that high amid death 

Through the field has shone — yet moves with a breath ! 

And, oh, how the eyes of Beauty glisten, 

When Music has reach'd her inward soul, 
Like the silent stars, that wink and listen 

While Heaven's eternal melodies roll. 



often heightened by an anticipation of the succeeding notes. Thus 
Sense, Memory, and Imagination, are conjunctively employed." — 
Gerrard on Taste. 

This is exactly the Epicurean theory of Pleasure, as explained 
by Cicero : — " Quocirca corpus gaudere tamdiu, dum prsesentem 
sentiret voluptatem : an i mum et preesentem percipere pariter cum 
corpore et prospicere venientem, nee prseteritam praeterfluere 
sinere." 

Madame de Stael accounts upon the same principle for the gra- 
tification we derive from rhyme : — " Elle est l'image de l'esperance 
et du souvenir. Un son nous fait desirer celui qui doit lui repondre, 
et quand le second retentit il nous rappelle celui qui vient de nous 
echapper." 



366 LALLA ROOKH. 



So, hither I come 

From my fairy home, 
And if there's a magic in Music's strain, 

I swear by the breath 

Of that moonlight wreath, 
Thy Lover shall sigh at thy feet again. 



'Tis dawn — at least that earlier dawn, 
Whose glimpses are again withdrawn,* 
As if the morn had wak'd, and then 
Shut close her lids of light again. 



* " The Persians have two mornings, the Soobhi Kazim and the 
Soobhi Sadig, the false and the real day-break. They account for 
this phenomenon in a most whimsical manner. They say that as 
the sun rises from behind the Kohi Qaf (Mount Caucasus), it passes 
a hole perforated through that mountain, and that darting its rays 
through it, it is the cause of the Soobhi Kazim, or this temporary 
appearance of day-break. As it ascends, the earth is again veiled 
in darkness, until the sun rises above the mountain, and brings 
with it the Soobhi Sadig, or real morning." — Scott Waring. He 
thinks Milton may allude to this, when he says, — 
" Ere the blabbing Eastern scout, 

The nice morn on the Indian steep 

From her cabin'd loop-hole peep." 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 



367 



And Nourmahal is up, and trying 

The wonders of her lute, whose strings — 
Oh, bliss ! — now murmur like the sighing 

From that ambrosial Spirit's wings. 
And then, her voice — 'tis more than human — 

Never, till now, had it been given 
To lips of any mortal woman 

To utter notes so fresh from heaven ; 
Sweet as the breath of angel sighs, 

When angel sighs are most divine. — 
" Oh ! let it last till night," she cries, 

" And he is more than ever mine ! " 
And hourly she renews the lay, 

So fearful lest its heavenly sweetness 
Should, ere the evening, fade away, — 

For things so heavenly have such fleetness ! 
But, far from fading, it but grows 
Richer, diviner as it flows ; 
Till rapt she dwells on every string, 

And pours again each sound along, 
Like echo, lost and languishing, 

In love with her own wondrous song. 



368 LALLA ROOKH. 



That evening, (trusting that his soul 

Might be from haunting love releas'd 
By mirth, by music, and the bowl,) 
The' Imperial Selim held a feast 
In his magnificent Shalimar : — * 
In whose Saloons, when the first star 
Of evening o'er the waters trembled, 
The Valley's loveliest all assembled ; 



* " In the centre of the plain, as it approaches the Lake, one of 
the Delhi Emperors, I believe Shah Jehan, constructed a spacious 
garden called the Shalimar, which is abundantly stored with fruit- 
trees and flowering shrubs. Some of the rivulets which intersect 
the plain are led into a canal at the back of the garden, and flowing 
through its centre, or occasionally thrown into a variety of water- 
works, compose the chief beauty of the Shalimar. To decorate this 
spot the Mogul Princes of India have displayed an equal magnifi- 
cence and taste ; especially Jehan Gheer, who, with the enchanting 
~Noor Mahl, made Kashmire his usual residence during the summer 
months. On arches thrown over the canal are erected, at equal 
distances, four or five suites of apartments, each consisting of a 
saloon, with four rooms at the angles, where the followers of the 
court attend, and the servants prepare sherbets, coffee, and the 
hookah. The frame of the doors of the principal saloon is composed 
of pieces of a stone of a black colour, streaked with yellow lines, 
and of a closer grain and higher polish than porphyry. They were 
taken, it is said, from a Hindoo temple, by one of the Mogul princes, 
and are esteemed of great value." — Forster. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 



369 



All the bright creatures that, like dreams, 
Glide through its foliage, and drink beams 
Of beauty from its founts and streams ; * 
And all those wandering minstrel-maids, 
Who leave — how can they leave? — the shades 
Of that dear Valley, and are found 

Singing in gardens of the South f 
Those songs, that ne'er so sweetly sound 

As from a young Cashmerian's mouth. 



There, too, the Haram's inmates smile ; — 

Maids from the West, with sun-bright hair, 
And from the Garden of the Nile, 



Delicate as the roses there 



* " The waters of Cachemir are the more renowned from *its 
being supposed that the Cachemirians are indebted for their beauty 
to them." — Ali Yezdi. 

| " From him I received the following little Gazzel, or Love 
Song, the notes of which he com m itted to paper from the voice of 
one of those singing girls of Cashmere, who wander from that de- 
lightful valley over the various parts of India." — Persian Miscel- 
lanies. 

| " The roses of the Jinan Nile, or Garden of the Nile (attached 
to the Emperor of Marocco's palace), are unequalled, and matresses 
are made of their leaves for the men of rank to recline upon." — 
Jackson. 



370 LALLA ROOKH. 



Daughters of Love from Cyprus' rocks, 
With Paphian diamonds in their locks ; — * 
Light Peri forms, such as there are 
On the gold meads of Candahar ; | 
And they, before whose sleepy eyes, 

In their own bright Kathaian bowers, 
Sparkle such rainbow butterflies, 

That they might fancy the rich flowers, 
That round them in the sun lay sighing, 
Had been by magic all set flying. J 

Every thing young, every thing fair 
From East and West is blushing there, 



* " On the side of a mountain near Paphos there is a cavern 
which produces the most beautiful rock-crystal. On account of its 
brilliancy it has been called the Paphian diamond." — Mariti. 

f " There is a part of Candahar, called Peria, or Fairy Land." 
— Thevenot. In some of those countries to the north of India, ve- 
getable gold is supposed to be produced. 

\ " These are the butterflies which are called in the Chinese 
language Flying Leaves. Some of them have such shining colours, 
and are so variegated, that they may be called flying flowers ; and 
indeed they are always produced in the finest flower-gardens." — 
Dunn. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 



371 



Except — except — oh, Noukmahal ! 
Thou loveliest, dearest of them all, 
The one, whose smile shone out alone, 
Amidst a world the only one ; 
Whose light, among so many lights, 
Was like that star on starry nights, 
The seaman singles from the sky, 
To steer his bark for ever by ! 
Thou wert not there — so Selim thought, 

And every thing seem'd drear without thee ; 
But, ah ! thou wert, thou wert, — and brought 

Thy charm of song all fresh about thee. 
Mingling unnotic'd with a band 
Of lutanists from many a land, 
And veil'd by such a mask as shades 
The features of young Arab maids, — * 
A mask that leaves but one eye free, 
To do its best in witchery, — 



* " The Arabian women wear black masks with little clasps 
prettily ordered." — Carreri. Niebuhr mentions their showing but 
one eye in conversation. 



372 LALLA ROOKH. 



She rov'd, with beating heart, around, 
And waited, trembling, for the minute, 

When she might try if still the sound 
Of her lov'd lute had magic in it. 

The board was spread with fruits and wine ; 
With grapes of gold, like those that shine 
On Casbin's hills*; — pomegranates full 

Of melting sweetness, and the pears, 
And sunniest apples f that Caubul 

In all its thousand gardens J bears ; — 
Plantains, the golden and the green, 
Malaya's nectar'd mangusteen ; § 
Prunes of Bokara, and sweet nuts 

From the far groves of Samarcand, 



* " The golden grapes of Casbin." — Description of Persia. 

f " The fruits exported from Caubul are apples, pears, pome- 
granates," &c. — Elphinstone. 

% " We sat down under a tree, listened to the birds, and talked 
with the son of our Mehmaundar about our country and Caubul, of 
which he gave an enchanting account : that city and its 100,000 
gardens," &c. — Id. 

§ " The mangusteen, the most delicate fruit in the world ; the 
pride of the Malay islands." — Marsden. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 



373 



And Basra dates, and apricots. 

Seed of the Sun *, from Iran's land ; - 
With rich conserve of Visna cherries, f 
Of orange flowers, and of those berries 
That, wild and fresh, the young gazelles 
Feed on in Erac's rocky dells. J 
All these in richest vases smile, 

In baskets of pure santal-wood, 
And urns of porcelain from that isle § 
Sunk underneath the Indian flood, 
Whence oft the lucky diver brings 
Vases to grace the halls of kings. 
Wines, too, of every clime and hue, 
Around their liquid lustre threw ; 
Amber Rosollifl, — the bright dew 



* " A delicious kind of apricot, called by the Persians tokm-ek- 
shems, signifying sun's seed." — Description of Persia. 

j" " Sweetmeats, in a crystal cup, consisting of rose-leaves in 
conserve, with lemon of Visna cherry, orange flowers," &c. — Russel. 

| " Antelopes cropping the fresh berries of Erac." — The Moal- 
lakat, Poem of Tarafa. 

§ Mauri-ga-Sima, an island near Formosa, supposed to have 
been sunk in the sea for the crimes of its inhabitants. The vessels 
which the fishermen and divers bring up from it are sold at an im- 
mense price in China and Japan. — See Kernpfer. 

II Persian Tales. 



374 LALLA ROOKH. 



From vineyards of the Green- Sea gushing ; * 
And Shir A z wine, that richly ran 

As if that jewel, large and rare, 
The ruby for which Kublai-Khan 
Offer'd a city's wealth f, was blushing 

Melted within the goblets there ! 

And amply Selim quaffs of each, 
And seems resolv'd the flood shall reach 
His inward heart, — shedding around 

A genial deluge, as they run, 
That soon shall leave no spot undrown'd. 

For Love to rest his wings upon. 
He little knew how well the boy 

Can float upon a goblet's streams, 
Lighting them with his smile of joy ; — 

As bards have seen him in their dreams^ 

* The white wine of Kishina* 

f " The King of Zeilan is said to have the very finest ruby that 
was ever seen. Kublai-Khan sent and offered the value of a city 
for it, but the King answered he would not give it for the treasure 
of the world." — Marco Polo. 



Down the blue Ganges laughing glide 
Upon a rosy lotus wreath,* 

Catching new lustre from the tide 
That with his image shone beneath. 



But what are cups, without the aid 

Of song to speed them as they flow ? 
And see — a lovely Georgian maid, 

With all the bloom, the freshen'd glow 
Of her own country maidens' looks, 
When warm they rise from Teflis' brooks ; f 
And with an eye, whose restless ray, 

Full, floating, dark — oh, he, who knows 
His heart is weak, of Heaven should pray 

To guard him from such eyes as those ! — 
With a voluptuous wildness flings 
Her snowy hand across the strings 
Of a syrinda J, and thus sings : — 



* The Indians feign that Cupid was first seen floating down the 
Ganges on the Nymphsea Nelumbo. — See Pennant. 

f Teflis is celebrated for its natural warm baths. — See Ebn 
Haukal. 

\ " The Indian Syrinda, or guitar." — Symez. 



% 



376 LALLA ROOKH. 



Come hither, come hither — by night and by day, 
We linger in pleasures that never are gone ; 

Like the waves of the summer, as one dies away, 
Another as sweet and as shining comes on. 

And the love that is o'er, in expiring, gives birth 
To a new one as warm, as unequall'd in bliss ; 

And, oh ! if there be an Elysium on earth, 
It is this, it is this.* 

Here maidens are sighing, and fragrant their sigh 
As the flower of the Amra just op'd by a bee ; f 

And precious their tears as that rain from the sky, J 
Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea. 



* " Around the exterior of the Dewan Khafs (a building of Shah 
Allum's) in the cornice are the following lines in letters of gold 
upon a ground of white marble : — ' If 'there be a paradise upon earth, 
it is this, it is this.'' " — Franklin. 

f " Delightful are the flowers of the Ainra trees on the mountain- 
tops, while the murmuring bees pursue their voluptuous toil." — 
Song of Jayadeva. 

I " The Nisan or drops of spring rain, which they believe to 
produce pearls if they fall into shells." — Richardson. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 



377 



Oh ! think what the kiss and the smile must be worth 

When the sigh and the tear are so perfect in bliss, 
And own if there be an Elysium on earth, 



It is this, it is this. 



Here sparkles the nectar, that, hallow'd by love, 

Could draw down those angels of old from their sphere, 

Who for wine of this earth * left the fountains above, 
And forgot heaven's stars for the eyes we have here. 

And, bless'd with the odour our goblet gives forth, 
What Spirit the sweets of his Eden would miss ? 

For, oh ! if there be an Elysium on earth, 
It is this, it is this. 



The Georgian's song was scarcely mute, 
When the same measure, sound for sound, 

Was caught up by another lute, 
And so divinely breath'd around, 



* For an account of the share which wine had in the fall of the 
angels, see Mariti. 



378 LALLA ROOKH. 



That all stood hush'd and wondering, 

And turn'd and look'd into the air, 
As if they thought to see the wing 

Of Iskafil *, the Angel, there ; — 
So powerfully on every soul 
That new, enchanted measure stole. 
While now a voice, sweet as the note 
Of the charm'd lute, was heard to float 
Along its chords, and so entwine 

Its sounds with theirs, that none knew whether 
The voice or lute was most divine, 

So wondrously they went together : — 



There's a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told, 
When two, that are link'd in one heavenly tie, 

With heart never changing, and brow never cold, 
Love on through all ills, and love on till they die 

* The Angel of Music. See note, p. 308. 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 



379 



One hour of a passion so sacred is worth 

Whole ages of heartless and wandering bliss ; 
And, oh ! if there be an Elysium on earth, 
It is this, it is this. 



'Twas not the air, 'twas not the words, 
But that deep magic in the chords 
And in the lips, that gave such power 
As Music knew not till that hour. 
At once a hundred voices said, 
" It is the mask'd Arabian maid ! " 
While Selim, who had felt the strain 
Deepest of any, and had lain 
Some minutes rapt, as in a trance, 

After the fairy sounds were o'er, 
Too inly touch'd for utterance, 

Now motion'd with his hand for more : — 



Fly to the desert, fly with me, 
Our Arab tents are rude for thee ; 



But, oh ! the choice what heart can doubt, 
Of tents with love, or thrones without ? 

Our rocks are rough, but smiling there 
The' acacia waves her yellow hair, 
Lonely and sweet, nor lov'd the less 
For flowering in a wilderness. 

Our sands are bare, but down their slope 
The silvery-footed antelope 
As gracefully and gaily springs, 
As o'er the marble courts of kings. 

Then come — thy Arab maid will be 
The lov'd and lone acacia-tree, 
The antelope, whose feet shall bless 
With their light sound thy loneliness. 

Oh ! there are looks and tones that dart 
An instant sunshine through the heart, — 
As if the soul that minute caught 
Some treasure it through life had sought ; 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 



381 



As if the very lips and eyes, 
Predestin'd to have all our sighs, 
And never be forgot again, 
Sparkled and spoke before us then ! 

So came thy every glance and tone, 
When first on me they breath'd and shone ; 
New, as if brought from other spheres, 
Yet welcome as if lov'd for years. 

Then fly with me, — if thou hast known 
No other flame, nor falsely thrown 
A gem away, that thou hadst sworn 
Should ever in thy heart be worn. 

Come, if the love thou hast for me 
Is pure and fresh as mine for thee, — 
Fresh as the fountain under ground, 
When first 'tis by the lapwing found. * 



* The Hudhud, or Lapwing, is supposed to have the power of 
discovering water under ground. 



382 LALLA ROOKH. 



But if for me thou dost forsake 
Some other maid, and rudely break 
Her worshipp'd image from its base, 
To give to me the ruin'd place ; — 

Then, fare thee well — I'd rather make 
My bower upon some icy lake 
When thawing suns begin to shine, 
Than trust to love so false as thine ! 



There was a pathos in this lay, 

That, ev'n without enchantment's art, 

Would instantly have found its way 
Deep into Selim's burning heart ; 

But, breathing, as it did, a tone 

To earthly lutes and lips unknown ; 

With every chord fresh from the touch 

Of Music's Spirit, — 'twas too much ! 

Starting, he dash'd away the cup, — 
Which, all the time of this sweet air, 



THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. 



383 



His hand had held, untasted, up, 

As if 'twere fix'd by magic there, — 
And naming her, so long unnam'd, 
So long unseen, wildly exclaim'd, 

" Oh NOURMAHAL ! oh NOURMAHAL ! 

" Hadst thou but sung this witching strain, 
" I could forget — forgive thee all, 
" And never leave those eyes again." 



The mask is off — the charm is wrought — 
And Selim to his heart has caught, 
In blushes, more than ever bright, 
His Nourmahal, his Haram's Light ! 
And well do vanish'd frowns enhance 
The charm of every brighten'd glance ; 
And dearer seems each dawning smile 
For having lost its light awhile : 
And, happier now for all her sighs, 

As on his arm her head reposes, 
She whispers him, with laughing eyes, 

" Remember, love, the Feast of Roses ! " 



384 LALLA ROOKH. 



Fadladeen, at the conclusion of this light rhapsody, 
took occasion to sum up his opinion of the young Cash- 
nierian's poetry, — of which, he trusted, they had that 
evening heard the last. Having recapitulated the 
epithets, " frivolous " — " inharmonious " — " nonsen- 
sical," he proceeded to say that, viewing it in the most 
favourable light, it resembled one of those Maldivian 
boats, to which the Princess had alluded in the relation 
of her dream*, — a slight, gilded thing, sent adrift 
without rudder or ballast, and with nothing but vapid 
sweets and faded flowers on board. The profusion, 
indeed, of flowers and birds, which this poet had ready 
on all occasions, — not to mention dews, gems, &c. — 
was a most oppressive kind of opulence to his hearers ; 
and had the unlucky effect of giving to his style all the 
glitter of the flower-garden without its method, and all 

* See p. 260. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



385 



the flutter of the aviary without its song. In addition 
to this, he chose his subjects badly, and was always 
most inspired by the worst parts of them. The charms 
of paganism, the merits of rebellion, — these were the 
themes honoured with his particular enthusiasm ; and, 
in the poem just recited, one of his most palatable pas- 
sages was in praise of that beverage of the Unfaithful, 
wine ; — " being, perhaps," said he, relaxing into a smile, 
as conscious of his own character in the Haram on this 
point, " one of those bards, whose fancy owes all its il- 
lumination to the grape, like that painted porcelain *, so 
curious and so rare, whose images are only visible when 
liquor is poured into it." Upon the whole, it was his 
opinion, from the specimens which they had heard, and 
which, he begged to say, were the most tiresome part 
of the journey, that — whatever other merits this well- 



* " The Chinese had formerly the art of painting on the sides of 
porcelain vessels fish and other animals, which were only perceptible 
when the vessel was full of some liquor. They call this species 
Kia-tsin, that is, azure is put in press, on account of the manner in 
which the azure is laid on." — "They are every now and then 
trying to recover the art of this magical painting, but to no pur- 
pose." — Dunn. 



386 LALLA ROOKH. 



dressed young gentleman might possess — poetry was 
by no means his proper avocation: "and indeed," con- 
cluded the critic, " from his fondness for flowers and 
for birds, I would venture to suggest that a florist 
or a bird-catcher is a much more suitable calling for 
him than a poet." 

They had now begun to ascend those barren moun- 
tains, which separate Cashmere from the rest of India ; 
and, as the heats were intolerable, and the time of their 
encampments limited to the few hours necessary for re- 
freshment and repose, there was an end to all their 
delightful evenings, and Lalla Rookh saw no more 
of Feramokz. She now felt that her short dream of 
happiness was over, and that she had nothing but the 
recollection of its few blissful hours, like the one draught 
of sweet water that serves the camel across the wil- 
derness, to be her heart's refreshment during the dreary 
waste of life that was before her. The blight that had 
fallen upon her spirits soon found its way to her cheek, 
and her ladies saw with regret — though not without 
some suspicion of the cause — that the beauty of their 



LALLA ROOKH. 



387 



mistress, of which they were almost as proud as of their 
own, was fast vanishing away at the very moment of all 
when she had most need of it. What must the King of 
Bucharia feel, when, instead of the lively and beautiful 
Lalla Rookh, whom the poets of Delhi had described 
as more perfect than the clivinest images in the house of 
Azor *, he should receive a pale and inanimate victim, 
upon whose cheek neither health nor pleasure bloomed, 
and from whose eyes Love had fled, — to hide himself 
in her heart ? 

If any thing could have charmed away the melancholy 
of her spirits, it would have been the fresh airs and en- 
chanting scenery of that Valley, which the Persians so 
justly called the Unequalled. f But neither the coolness 
of its atmosphere, so luxurious after toiling up those bare 
and burning mountains, — neither the splendour of the 
minarets and pagodas, that shone out from the depth of 



* An eminent carver of idols, said in the Koran to be father to 
Abraham. " I have such a lovely idol as is not to be met with in 
the house of Azor." — Hafiz. 

f Kachmire be Nazeer. — Forster. 



388 LALLA ROOKH. 



its woods, nor the grottos, hermitages, and miraculous 
fountains *, which make every spot of that region holy 
ground, — neither the countless waterfalls, that rush into 
the Valley from all those high and romantic mountains 
that encircle it, nor the fair city on the Lake, whose 
houses, roofed with flowers f , appeared at a distance 



* " The pardonable superstition of the sequestered inhabitants 
has multiplied the places of worship of Mahadeo, of Beschan, and 
of Brama. All Cashmere is holy land, and miraculous fountains 
abound." — Major RenneVs Memoirs of a Map of Hindostan. 

Jehanguire mentions " a fountain in Cashmere called Tirnagh, 
which signifies a snake; probably because some large snake had 
formerly been seen there." — "During the lifetime of my father, I 
went twice to this fountain, which is about twenty coss from the 
city of Cashmere. The vestiges of places of worship and sanctity 
are to be traced without number amongst the ruins and the caves, 
which are interspersed in its neighbourhood." — Toozek Jehangeery. 
— Vide Asiat. Misc. vol. ii. 

There is another account of Cashmere by Abul-Fazil, the author 
of the Ayin- Acbaree, " who," says Major Rennel, " appears to have 
caught some of the enthusiasm of the valley, by his description of 
the holy places in it." 

f " On a standing roof of wood is laid a covering of fine earth, 
which shelters the building from the great quantity of snow that 
falls in the winter season. This fence communicates an equal 
warmth in winter, as a refreshing coolness in the summer season, 
when the tops of the houses, which are planted with a variety of 
flowers, exhibit at a distance the spacious view of a beautifully- 
checquered parterre." — Forster. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



389 



like one vast and variegated parterre; — not all these 
wonders and glories of the most lovely country under 
the sun could steal her heart for a minute from those 
sad thoughts, which but darkened, and grew bitterer 
every step she advanced. 

The gay pomps and processions that met her upon 
her entrance into the Valley, and the magnificence with 
which the roads all along were decorated, did honour to 
the taste and gallantry of the young King. It was 
night when they approached the city, and, for the last 
two miles, they had passed under arches, thrown from 
hedge to hedge, festooned with only those rarest roses 
from which the Attar Gul, more precious than gold, is 
distilled, and illuminated in rich and fanciful forms with 
lanterns of the triple-coloured tortoise-shell of Pegu. * 
Sometimes, from a dark wood by the side of the road, a 
display of fire-works would break out, so sudden and so 



* " Two hundred slaves there are, who have no other office than 
to hunt the woods and marshes for triple-coloured tortoises for the 
Bang's Vivary. Of the shells of these also lanterns are made." — 
— Vincent le Blanc 's Travels. 



390 LALLA ROOKH. 



brilliant, that a Brahmin might fancy he beheld that 
grove, in whose purple shade the God of Battles was 
born, bursting into a flame at the moment of his birth ; 
— while, at other times, a quick and playful irradiation 
continued to brighten all the fields and gardens by which 
they passed, forming a line of dancing lights along the 
horizon ; like the meteors of the north as they are seen 
by those hunters *, who pursue the white and blue foxes 
on the confines of the Icy Sea. 

These arches and fire-works delighted the Ladies of 
the Princess exceedingly ; and, with their usual good 
logic, they deduced from his taste for illuminations, that 
the King of Bucharia would make the most exemplary 
husband imaginable. Nor, indeed, could Lalla Rookh 
herself help feeling the kindness and splendour with 
which the young bridegroom welcomed her; — but she 
also felt how painful is the gratitude, which kindness 
from those we cannot love excites ; and that their best 
blandishments come over the heart with all that chilling 

* For a description of the Aurora Borealis as it appears to these 
hunters, vide Encyclopedia. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



391 



and deadly sweetness, which we can fancy in the cold, 
odoriferous wind * that is to blow over this earth in the 
last days. 

The marriage was fixed for the morning after her 
arrival, when she was, for the first time, to be presented 
to the monarch in that Imperial Palace beyond the lake, 
called the Shalimar. Though never before had a night 
of more wakeful and anxious thought been passed in the 
Happy Valley, yet, when she rose in the morning, and 
her Ladies came around her, to assist in the adjustment 
of the bridal ornaments, they thought they had never 
seen her look half so beautiful. What she had lost of 
the bloom and radiancy of her charms was more than 
made up by that intellectual expression, that soul 
beaming forth from the eyes, which is worth all the rest 
of loveliness. When they had tinged her fingers with 



* This wind, which is to blow from Syria Damascena, is, accord- 
ing to the Mahometans, one of the signs of the Last Day's ap- 
proach. 

Another of the signs is, " Great distress in the world, so that a 
man when he passes by another's grave shall say, Would to God I 
were in his place ! " — Sale's Preliminary Discourse. 



392 LALLA ROOKH. 



the Henna leaf, and placed upon her brow a small 
coronet of jewels, of the shape worn by the ancient 
Queens of Bucharia, they flung over her head the rose- 
coloured bridal veil, and she proceeded to the barge that 
was to convey her across the lake ; — first kissing, with 
a mournful look, the little amulet of cornelian, which 
her father at parting had hung about her neck. 

The morning was as fresh and fair as the maid on 
whose nuptials it rose ; and the shining lake, all covered 
with boats, the minstrels playing upon the shores of 
the islands, and the crowded summer houses on the 
green hills around, with shawls and banners waving 
from their roofs, presented such a picture of animated 
rejoicing, as only she, who was the object of it all, did 
not feel with transport. To Lalla Rookh alone it 
was a melancholy pageant ; nor could she have even 
borne to look upon the scene, were it not for a hope 
that, among the crowds around, she might once more 
perhaps catch a glimpse of Feeamorz. So much was 
her imagination haunted by this thought, that there 
was scarcely an islet or boat she passed on the way, at 



LALLA ROOKH. 



393 



which her heart did not flutter with the momentary 
fancy that he was there. Happy, in her eyes, the 
humblest slave upon whom the light of his dear looks 
fell ! — In the barge immediately after the Princess sat 
Fadladeen, with his silken curtains thrown widely 
apart, that all might have the benefit of his august 
presence, and with his head full of the speech he was to 
deliver to the King, " concerning Feramokz, and liter- 
ature, and the Chabuk, as connected therewith." 



They now had entered the canal which leads from 
the Lake to the splendid domes and saloons of the 
Shalimar, and went gliding on through the gardens that 
ascended from each bank, full of flowering shrubs that 
made the air all perfume ; while from the middle of the 
canal rose jets of water, smooth and unbroken, to such a 
dazzling height, that they stood like tall pillars of dia- 
mond in the sunshine. After sailing under the arches 
of various saloons, they at length arrived at the last 
and most magnificent, where the monarch awaited the 
coming of his bride ; and such was the agitation of her 
heart and frame, that it was with difficulty she could 



394 LALLA ROOKH. 



walk up the marble steps, which were covered with 
cloth of gold for her ascent from the barge. At the 
end of the hall stood two thrones, as precious as the 
Cerulean Throne of Coolburga*, on one of which sat 
Aliris, the youthful King of Bucharia, and on the 
other was, in a few minutes, to be placed the most 
beautiful Princess in the world. Immediately upon 
the entrance of Lalla Rookh into the saloon, the 
monarch descended from his throne to meet her ; but 
scarcely had he time to take her hand in his, when she 
screamed with surprise, and fainted at his feet. It was 



* " On Mahonmied Shaw's return to Koolburga (the capital of 
Dekkan), he made a great festival, and mounted this throne with 
much pomp and magnificence, calling it Firozeh, or Cerulean. I 
have heard some old persons, who saw the throne Firozeh in the 
reign of Sultan Mamood Bhamenee, describe it. They say that it 
was in length nine feet, and three in breadth ; made of ebony, 
covered with plates of pure gold, and set with precious stones of 
immense value. Every prince of the house of Bhamenee, who pos- 
sessed this throne, made a point of adding to it some rich stones ; 
so that when in the reign of Sultan Mamood it was taken to pieces, 
to remove some of the jewels to be set in vases and cups, the 
jewellers valued it at one corore of oons (nearly four millions 
sterling). I learned also that it was called Firozeh from being partly 
enamelled of a sky-blue colour, which was in time totally concealed 
by the number of jewels." — Ferishta. 



LALLA ROOKH. 



395 



Feramorz himself that stood before her ! — Feramorz 
was, himself, the Sovereign of Bucharia, who in this 
disguise had accompanied his young bride from Delhi, 
and, having won her love as an humble minstrel, now 
amply deserved to enjoy it as a King. 

The consternation of Fadladeen at this discovery 
was, for the moment, almost pitiable. But change of 
opinion is a resource too convenient in courts for this 
experienced courtier not to have learned to avail himself 
of it. His criticisms were all, of course, recanted in- 
stantly : he was seized with an admiration of the King's 
verses, as unbounded as, he begged him to believe, it 
was disinterested ; and the following week saw him in 
possession of an additional place, swearing by all the 
Saints of Islam that never had there existed so great a 
poet as the Monarch Aliris, and, moreover, ready to 
prescribe his favourite regimen of the Chabuk for every 
man, woman, and child that dared to think otherwise. 



Of the happiness of the King and Queen of Bucharia, 
after such a beginning, there can be but little doubt ; 



396 LALLA ROOKH. 



and, among the lesser symptoms, it is recorded of 
Lalla Rookh, that, to the day of her death, in me- 
mory of their delightful journey, she never called the 
King by any other name than Feramorz. 



THE END. 



London s 

Printed by A. Spottiswoodk, 
New- Street- Square. 



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